Corporate India Blog - Mediation Process under Consumer Protection Act 2019 Today in our quick read blog (No. 06/2020-21), we continue to present an outlook on the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (‘Act’ or ‘Act 2019’) which has come into force from July 20, 2020 (except the sections yet to be notified) thereby repealing the erstwhile Consumer Protection Act 1986. Our quick blog will feature this Act in phased manner for next few days. We have covered some portions of this Act in our previous blogs and today our emphasis is on the new established concept of “mediation” under this Act: Mediation:  It means “the process by which a mediator mediates the consumer disputes”. As short as it is, the definition, being introduced for the first time in the Act 2019 (as against Consumer Protection Act 1986) does not dwell into the depth of what the term stands for. It simply specifies it to be a process to resolve consumer disputes. Section 79 though seem to describe this process as i...

Corporate India Blog - Product Liability Under Consumer Protection Act 2019 Today in our quick read blog (No. 05/2020-21), we continue to present an outlook on the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (‘Act’ or ‘Act 2019’) which has come into force from July 20, 2020 (except the sections yet to be notified) thereby repealing the erstwhile Consumer Protection Act 1986. Our quick blog will feature this Act in phased manner for next few days. We have covered some portions of this Act in our previous blogs and today our emphasis is on the newly introduced concept of “product liability” under this Act: Product Liability: It means “the responsibility of a product manufacturer or product seller, of any product or service, to compensate for any harm caused to a consumer by such defective product manufactured or sold or by deficiency in services relating thereto”. This provision was very much the need of hour amidst the rising unscrupulous practices of producing low quality products or production wi...

Corporate India Blog - Advertisment under Consumer Protection Act 2019 Today in our quick read blog (No. 04/2020-21), we continue to present an outlook on The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (‘Act’ or ‘Act 2019’) which has come into force from July 20, 2020 (except the sections yet to be notified) thereby repealing the erstwhile Consumer Protection Act 1986. Our quick blog will feature this Act in phased manner for next few days. We have covered key highlights of the Act in our previous blog and today our emphasis is on the new definition of the term “Advertisement” introduced in the Act. Advertisement: From being used only 4-5 times in the previous law, this word has found a whole new meaning and emphasis under the Act 2019 with a separate definition. It means “any audio or visual publicity, representation, endorsement or pronouncement by means of light, sound, smoke, gas, print, electronic media, internet or website and includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper, invoice or such ...

Corporate India Blog - Key Highlights of Consumer Protection Act 2019 Today in our quick read blog (No. 03/2020-21), we have presented an outlook on The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (Act 2019) which has come into force from July 20, 2020 (except the sections yet to be notified) thereby repealing the erstwhile Consumer Protection Act 1986. Our quick blog will feature this Act in phased manner for next few days. To start with, below are key highlights of the Act: a) New definitions: Various new definitions and improvement of existing definitions have been carried out to make the Act as equipped as possible to deal with modern era transactions of goods and services. Definitions of consumer, unfair trade practices, etc. have been widened and new key definitions of terms like product liability, design, consumer rights, e-commerce, etc. have been introduced. b) Inclusion of e-commerce transactions: This is a very material change to include e-commerce transactions wide a separate definitio...

Corporate India Blog - Mandatory PAN Requirement under section 139A of Income Tax Act 1961 Today in our quick read blog (No. 02/2020-21), we have presented an outlook on amendment to Section 139A of the Income Tax Act (as amended vide the Finance Act 2018). Vide this amendment, directors (including Managing Director), partner, trustee, author, founder, karta, chief executive officer (CEO), principal officer, officer bearer of company or firm and any other person competent to act on behalf of company or the firm, are required to obtain Permanent Account Number (PAN) on or before the 31st day of May immediately following the financial year in which the applicant enters into financial transaction of more than INR 250,000. In light of the above changes, the obligation to obtain PAN is not only restricted to Directors, but is even extended as a mandatory requirement to the following class of person(s): Founder of company/firm Chief Executive Officer Principal Officer / Officer bearer Any pe...

Corporate India Blog - Overview of POSH Act 2013 Today in our quick blog (No. 01/2020–21) we have presented an outlook on Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace. The provisions are detailed in the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act). The POSH Act particularly aims to reduce and minimize incidents of sexual harassment at workplace against women or men, both. It’s applicable to all office premises, households, etc. where 10 or more employees are engaged. The provisions also cover places where any person travels for work related matters. The primary requirements for compliance are:- setup Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in the organisation with mandatory expert external member impart frequennt training for awareness of staff members and ICC members annual reporting to District Officer under the POSH Act 2013 and in Board’s Report prepared under the Companies Act 2013 The employer is responsible to organise frequent...