Year-End- Review of Department of Consumer Affairs 2022

• 21 Dec 2022

For Prelims: Department of Consumer Affairs, Price Monitoring Mechanism, Price Stabilization Fund, Bureau Of Indian Standards, Consumer Protection Act, 2019

For Mains: Year-End- Review of Department of Consumer Affairs 2022

Why in News?

Recently, the year-end-review of the Department of Consumer Affairs under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution for the year 2022 was released.

What are the Key Achievements of the Department?

• Scheme for strengthening of Price Monitoring Mechanism:
  • Price Monitor Cell monitors wholesale and retail prices of twenty-two essential commodities including Rice, Wheat, Atta, Gram Dal etc. based on data collected from 179 market centres spread across the country representing North, West, East, South and North-eastern regions of the country.
  • During the year, 57 price reporting centers were added. Number of price reporting centers increased from 122 on 1st January 2021 to 179 till December 2022.
• Price Stabilization Fund (PSF):
  • PSF is a central sector scheme for providing working capital and other incidental expenses for procurement and distribution of agri-horticultural commodities.
  • During 2022, 12.83 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) of pulses has been Transferred from Price Support Scheme (PSS), Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DACFW) to PSF, Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) /Procured/Import under PSF.
• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY):
  • During 2022, Rs. 35.59 crore were released to States/Union Territories as reimbursement for expenditure on intra-State movement & handling, fair price shop dealer's margin and Additional Margin Distribution through Point of Sale (PoS) Device for distribution of pulses under PMGKAY and Atma Nirbhar Bharat Scheme.
• Consumer Awareness:
  • The new mascot of the DoCA “Jagriti” was launched to strengthen the campaign titled “Jago Grahak Jago” to reinforce top-of-mind awareness with all the consumers.
• Bureau Of Indian Standards (BIS):
  • BIS Act 2016 came into force with effect from 12th October 2017, subsequently Governing Council was reconstituted.
    • The total number of standards in force, as on 25^th November 2022 is 21,833.
  • BIS (India) is holding the chairship of the South Asian Regional Standards Organization (SARSO) Technical Management Board for a three-year term from Oct 2020 to Oct 2023 and Board of Conformity Assessment (BCA).
  • Management System Certification:
    • BIS operates 20 Management Systems Certification Schemes, In 2021-22, two new more schemes i.e., Occupational Health & Safety Management System and Energy Management System have been accredited by National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB).
• Consumer Protection:
  • World Consumer Rights Day:
    • The World Consumer Rights Day was celebrated on 15th March 2022 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
    • The theme of the event was “Fair Digital Finance”.
  • Settlement of cases through National Lok Adalat:
    • National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) along with other Legal Service institutions conducts Lok Adalats.
    • DoCA wrote to all State/UT Govts. for referring pending consumer cases to be taken up through National Lok Adalat.
      • As a result, 5,930 cases were settled on a single day on 12th December, 2022 through Lok Adalat across the Country.
  • Consumer Protection Act, 2019:
    • Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022 were notified under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019
  • E-Filing:
  • A Consumer Commission online application portal named “edaakhil.nic.in” has been developed to facilitate the consumers/advocates to file the consumer complaint online through the e-Daakhil portal from home or anywhere at their own comfort.
  • Fake Reviews:
    • BIS launched the framework titled Indian Standard (IS) 19000:2022 ‘Online Consumer Reviews — Principles and Requirements for their Collection, Moderation and Publication.
      • The standards will be applicable to every online platform which publishes consumer reviews.
      • The standard provides for responsibilities of organization including developing a code of practice, and necessary stipulations for terms and conditions like accessibility, criteria, and ensuring content does not contain financial information etc.
• Legal Metrology:
  • Amendment to Rules:
    • The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 were amended to allow the electronic products industries to declare certain mandatory declarations in the digital form through the QR Code for a period of one year, if not declared in the package itself.
      • This permission is to enable greater use of technology in this digital era to declare the mandatory declaration through the QR Code which can be scanned to view the declarations.

Source: PIB