The new regulations announced by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Government of India which took effect immediately, forbid surrogate advertisements and make ad disclaimers more transparent. The standards also state that care must be taken while endorsing advertisements. All advertisements, including those that are printed, broadcast, and online, must abide by the rules.
The Guidelines were informed in order to fulfil the CCPA’s obligations under section 18 of the Consumer Protection Act of 2019. Under section 2(28) of the Consumer Protection Act of 2019, misleading advertising has been defined.
Important points in this Gazette regulation:
The Central Consumer Protection Act’s requirements will be followed in taking action against anyone who violates the new criteria (CCPA). The CCPA Act has provisions to deal with deceptive advertising that interferes with consumers’ rights. The government has released standards for ethical advertising in order to make them more explicit, transparent, and known to the sector.
The authority has issued 113 notifications, of which 57 relate to deceptive advertising, 47 to unfair business practises, and nine to violations of consumer rights. 14 businesses withdrew their advertisements, with the majority claiming greater than 98% efficacy against COVID/germs. 3 businesses have released retractive advertisements, one has altered its refund/replacement policy for the benefit of customers, and another has created penal provisions for its sellers in the event that any flaws are discovered. 3 companies were fined a total of Rs. 10 lakhs for their deceptive advertising, and another Rs. 1 lakh for their deceptive business practices.
The guidelines can be viewed at:
https://consumeraffairs.nic.in/sites/default/files/file-uploads/latestnews/CCPA%20Notification.pdf: India taking strict actions on misleading advertisements to protect consumer interests.