A Critical comparative analysis on Unfair Trade Practice in India with special reference to united states & United Kingdom

Abstract

The world today, unlike the world before the industrial revolution and the rapid growth of international trade and trade, is an interconnected global economy. This industry boom has resulted in a wide variety of consumer productsto appeal to newly evolving consumer demands and a range of services as well. At the same time, distributors and suppliers have become more and more organized. This created a discrepancy in the negotiating power of the weaker party in the customer transaction. A variety of legal initiatives have been adopted and guidelines and regulations have been framed, both at the international and domestic level, in order to discourage and protect the abuse of consumers. India has a special statute, the Consumer Protection Act 1986, to protect the interests of the consumer. The author has attempted to understand the ground level reality of these practices especially in places like airports, five star hotels, shopping malls and multiplexes where the balance of the bargaining power is heavily tilted in the favour of these institutions and study the treatment of the same under the laws currently in effect. The has focused on the major differences that are prevalent between the consumer protection legislations of the two major powers, the United States of America and the United Kingdom paper to evaluate the efficacy of their laws vis-àvis each other. Ultimately, an attempt has been made to study the current consumer protection legislation that is present in India for the protection of the consumers against the unfair trade practices and Consumer Protection Bill, 2015 has also been touched upon and suggestions to improve the same have been provided thereto. Unfair Trade Practice includes a wide variety of violations, many of which include economic harm caused by misleading or wrongful actions. Claims such as trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, misleading advertising, palming-off, dilution and disparagement are among the legal theories that can be claimed. Although attempts have been made to strengthen the customer's status and attempts have been made to make the consumer the king, he or she is still vulnerable to many unfair market practices implemented by retailers and manufacturers to achieve greater profits and sales revenues. There is a great deal of manipulation that revolves around product pricing. Price is often the most important determinant in translating a consumer’s interest in the product into sale. The market forces of demand and supply may sometimes make the consumer vulnerable and the retailer could easily exploit the situation to extract a larger price. In order to prevent this from happening, there are some requirements like declaration of the maximum retail price on the packaging of products. However, this is insufficient as there are still widespread instances of non-declaration, overpricing and differential pricing.