CUTS has initiated a project entitled ‘Consumer Protection Regimes Around the World’ (ConsumerRegimes). The outcome of this project will be a report – a biennial volume, which will be a collection of about 40 odd country essays explaining the country-specific state of consumer protection regime. CUTS intends to publish Volume I under the above-mentioned project by the end of 2010.
The term Consumer Protection is a comprehensive term comprising not only a set of regulations and legal framework but also a commitment to protect consumers against deprivation from the basic needs of life, and ensuring a respectable living. The United Nations Guidelines on Consumer Protection, 1985 stresses and urges the role of governments to develop and maintain a strong consumer protection policy.
Governments all over the world have been trying to build a strong legal and regulatory framework to ensure consumer interests’ and welfare. While some countries already have a well-developed consumer protection regime in place, there are many countries that are in process of evolving such a regime.
The report will serve as a platform:
- for identifying the prevailing gap between the ideal and actual situation in the countries on individual basis and attempt to fill in that gap by following good practices of a well developed Consumer Protection Regime;
- for comparative analysis between developed, developing and under-developed countries on their approaches to Protection of Consumers; and
- for strengthening the knowledge base of the civil society organisations, governments, intergovernmental organisations and other stakeholders by providing a ready reckoner in the form of a comprehensive report.
CUTS has developed a template paper on India, which serves as the format for other papers to follow. The paper can also be viewed at: http://cuts-ccier.org/pdf/ConsumerProtectionRegime-India.pdf
For further information please contact:
Richa Bhatnagar: rb2@cuts.org
Rijit Sengupta: rsg@cuts.org