The year 2024 has seen significant advancements in advertising laws in India, with the introduction of various new guidelines aimed at regulating mis-advertising. This is understandable, considering that the Indian advertising market is projected to become a $19.2 billion industry by 2028.[1]Continue Reading Legal Spotlight on Ads: Changing Flavor of Ad-Laws in India
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (“CCPA”) has issued Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector, 2024 (“Guidelines”)[1] on November 13, 2024. The Guidelines are introduced to address the issue of misleading advertisements, including deliberate concealment of important information and false guarantees, i.e., practices plaguing the coaching industry.Continue Reading CCPA schools coaching centres on misleading advertisements
Pharmaceutical advertisements hold significant power in shaping public perception of drugs, their efficacies and treatment options. In India, where healthcare access and awareness are often limited, misleading advertisements can have serious consequences. These ads have the potential to mislead customers and even endanger lives by exaggerating benefits or downplaying risks. Misleading advertisements, then, can simply be understood as uncorroborated, unsubstantiated, and often false claims made by pharmaceutical companies about their drugs – the lofty claims made by companies advertising their “COVID curing”[1] drugs to claims regarding “miracle drugs” that can battle life threatening diseases, are all case in point when one refers to misleading advertisements.Continue Reading Prescription for Deception – An Analysis of Pharmaceutical Advertising in India
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (“CCPA”) notified Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023 (“Guidelines”), under Section 18 of the Consumer Protection Act 2019 (“COPRA”), on November 30, 2023.Continue Reading Dark Pattern Guidelines: Illuminating Or Illusory?
‘Product Liability’ has been defined for the first time under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (“2019 Act”). As per the 2019 Act, product liability means the responsibility of a product manufacturer or product seller, or product service provider, to compensate for any harm caused to a consumer by a defective product manufactured or sold or by deficiency in services in relation to the product.[1]Continue Reading Product Liability under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019: An Overview
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘Code’) recognises two types of debts — financial and operational– to enable the creditors to make an application for initiating insolvency proceedings against a corporate debtor. A financial creditor and an operational creditor can initiate a Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (‘CIRP’) under Section 7 and Section 9 of the Code, respectively. If there is a debt, other than a financial debt or an operational debt, the creditor will not qualify to apply under Sections 7 or 9 of the Code, as the case may be. Therefore, it becomes important to determine the nature of debt/claim while considering the application of an admission under the Code.
Continue Reading Lease and Rentals: Are these Operational Debt under the IBC?
Recently, in Neena Aneja & Anr. v. Jai Prakash Associates Ltd.[1], the Supreme Court of India analysed and clarified the impact of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (“2019 Act”), upon pending cases that were filed under the consumer fora, constituted under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (“1986 Act”). In this regard, the Court has inter alia discussed and analysed (i) a wide range of judicial precedents, which have interpreted the impact of a change in forum on pending proceedings; (ii) the objects, intent, legislative scheme, and procedural history behind the consumer laws in India, particularly in terms of jurisdictional provision contained in the 2019 Act; and (iii) the relevant portions of the 2019 Act in so far as they pertain to the pecuniary jurisdiction vis-a-vis the erstwhile 1986 Act.
Continue Reading The 1986 Act or The 2019 Act? The Supreme Court Clarifies Applicability