NEW DELHI: Five companies including a major e-payment firm, a reputed online retail store and an FMCG firm have paid Rs 6.7 lakh fine to the government for not mentioning the “Country of Origin” on the packaged products sold by them. So far the government has issued 123 notices to different companies for such violations.
“The companies have compounded their offences by paying the fine and more cases are being processed. The intention is not to collect fine, but to ensure that the companies are complying with the Packaged Commodity Rules. The law empowers the consumers to know the country of origin of any product he is considering to buy,” said a consumer affairs ministry official.
The consumer affairs ministry also said since the establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) 26 notices have been issued to companies for misleading advertisements and four of them have withdrawn such advertisements.
“During Covid period many instances were noticed of companies resorting to misleading advertisements claiming their products boost immunity, protect from Covid and kill 99.9% of viruses or germ. We issued an advisory issued in January requesting industry associations to give wide publicity to provisions of Consumer Protection Act 2019 regarding misleading advertisements and there has been a visible impact,” said Nidhi Khare, additional secretary in the consumer affairs ministry.
According to the government, since the launch of e-filing of complaints at consumer commissions, 15 states have started this and 1,000 cases have been registered so far. Out of these 50 cases have been disposed off.
“The companies have compounded their offences by paying the fine and more cases are being processed. The intention is not to collect fine, but to ensure that the companies are complying with the Packaged Commodity Rules. The law empowers the consumers to know the country of origin of any product he is considering to buy,” said a consumer affairs ministry official.
The consumer affairs ministry also said since the establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) 26 notices have been issued to companies for misleading advertisements and four of them have withdrawn such advertisements.
“During Covid period many instances were noticed of companies resorting to misleading advertisements claiming their products boost immunity, protect from Covid and kill 99.9% of viruses or germ. We issued an advisory issued in January requesting industry associations to give wide publicity to provisions of Consumer Protection Act 2019 regarding misleading advertisements and there has been a visible impact,” said Nidhi Khare, additional secretary in the consumer affairs ministry.
According to the government, since the launch of e-filing of complaints at consumer commissions, 15 states have started this and 1,000 cases have been registered so far. Out of these 50 cases have been disposed off.