SEMINAR COURSE ON

SEMINAR COURSEONCONSUMER PROTECTION AND PRODUCT SAFETYSTANDARDSV YEAR XIII TRIMISTER (JULY TO OCTOBER 2009)INTRODUCTION“It is wrong to think that business is incompatible with ethics. I knowthat it is perfectly possible to carry one’s business profitably and yethonestly and truthfully. The plea that, business and ethics never agreeis advanced only by those who are actuated by nothing higher thannarrow self-interest. He who will serve his own ends will do so by allkinds of questionable means, but he who will earn to serve thecommunity will never sacrifice truth or honesty. You must bear inmind that you have the right to earn as much as you like, but not theright to spend as much as you like. Anything that remains after theneeds of a decent living are satisfied belongs to the community”.Mahatma GandhiMost people enjoy shopping, whether they like it or not, they spend a lot of time as consumers of goods or services. When they buy goods, eat in a restaurant, travel or seek the help of doctors, pharmacy, engineers or repairmen, they act as consumers. In modern society, people cannot avoid doing this all the time. In this ‘modern’ society one cannot imagine the life without consuming products sold in the market. Consumption is defined as the use of goods and services. And consumption is as old as man and it is older than production. Man in ancient time was dependent more on nature and was in that sense self-sufficient and independent. Now one may look back at those days, in which eachindividual was self-sufficient, but cannot go back and live like that. Production, operation and commerce have become an inevitable and important part of modern life. In a continuous effort to improve the quality of life, man has made a number of experiments and inventions. In this effort of improving the quality of life, man has built many institutions, systems and developed knowledge in social, cultural, religious, scientific, economic and in many such other fields. Economic activities, that is, production, distribution and consumption have become inevitable and important part of human activities. ‘With the rise in prices and standards of living, consumers have become cost conscious. Taking advantage of the helplessness of consumers, unscrupulous traders play with the life and happiness of consumers and millions of innocent people, by selling adulterated articles of food, drink and drug at a cheaper rate and make huge profits. They resort to various undesirable methods of adulteration starting from the stage of manufacture to that of sale of the articles, even at the risk of the consumer’s health, happiness and life. It is shocking to know that poisonous constituents are often added to articles of food and drinks and spurious drugs are sold resulting in number of deaths and causing innumerable diseases’.WHO estimates that worldwide almost 2 million children die every year from diarrhoea, most of this caused by microbiological contaminated food and water. Even in industrialized countries it is estimated that one third of the population suffers from food-borne disease every year, and out of these maybe up to 20 per million die. Considering that these figures only relate to microbiological problems, the addition of chemical contamination of food makes the situation extremely serious. The epidemic nature of outbreaks of food-borne disease varies from localized and self-limiting out-breaks, which would not be relevant to international trade to rapidly spreading epidemics that can quickly cross international borders via trade”.Hence to protect the consumers from unsafe products welfare States have enacted many consumer protection legislations. These consumer product safety laws have originated and developed as a natural response to the recognition ofthe rights of every consumer to be protected against exploitation and abuse by any manufacturer or supplier of goods or service providers. The idea of consumer protection can be found to have existed in every kind of social order and judicial mechanism, whether primitive or modern. However, the extent to which it has been emphasized and seeks to be flourished has varied depending upon the variations in circumstances. This reality draws support not only from customary norms of buying and seeking services but also from many religious ordainments and commands of kings. The protection of consumers has, therefore, been a continuous process with different dimensions, more often than not slow and compromising.The consumer protection as a philosophy and as a legal tool has achieved a universal character. Recent trends in the development of law in this regard give enough basis to conclude that emergence of international consumer protection law is no longer a utopia. The consumer protection law is achieving strength and is making progress and is sure to remain at the centre of attention of the legislators and individuals in the years to come.Hence, the seminar course aims to make a thorough, comprehensive and critical study of the civil and criminal laws, which are related to product safety standards (especially food) in India to identify the hurdles to achieve the basic objects of the consumer legislations and also to find out solutions for the same.SCHEME OF THE COURSE1.Introduction and Evolution of Product Safety Standards: National andInternational: Non Governmental Organisations - Kautilya’s Arthshastra….2.Product Safety Standards under Indian Constitution and related provisionsunder various Civil and Criminal Laws: Contract Act, 1872, Sale of Goods Act, 1930, Consumer Protection Act, 1986, Weights and Measures Act, Public Liability Insurance Law, Law of Torts. And other laws like Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006; the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940; AgriculturalProduce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937; Bureau of Indian Standards, 1986; Municipal Laws……3.Maintenance of Product Safety Standards in United Kingdom and UnitedStates: UK - Consumer Protection Act, 1987, Food Safety Act, 1990, Food Standards Act, 1999, General Product Safety Regulations, 2005, and the British Standards Institute. US - the Consumer Product Safety Commission (APSC) under the Consumer Product Safety Act, 1972, Food Safety Act, 2002, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the Department of Consumer Protection within the Ministry of Justice, Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) as a Consumer protection agency in regard to food and drugs……4.International Efforts towards Product Safety Standards: United NationsGuidelines is made to ascertain the International concern towards maintenance of product safety standards…….EVALUATION BREAK-UPRESEARCH PROJECT : 50 MARKSPRELIMINARY VIVA : 10 MARKSPRESENTATION & VIVA : 25 MARKSCLASS PARTICIPATION : 10 MARKSATTENDENCE : 05 MARKSCourse Teacher: Dr. Ashok R. Patil。