INTRODUCTION

The employment of various dishonest, fraudulent, or immoral ways to gain business is referred to as unfair commercial practises. Misrepresentation, fraudulent advertising or representation of an item or service, tied selling, bogus free prize or gift promises, deceptive pricing, and noncompliance with manufacturing standards are all examples of unfair commercial practises. Such practises are regarded illegal by legislation under the Consumer Protection Law, which provides customers with recourse in the form of compensation or punitive damages. Unfair trade practises are sometimes known as “deceptive trade practises” or “unfair commercial activities.”

Understanding Unfair Trade Practices

Unfair commercial practises are frequently observed in consumer purchases of products and services, tenancy, insurance claims and settlements, and debt collection. The majority of states’ unfair trade practises acts were established between the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, numerous states have enacted similar legislation to combat unfair commercial practises. Consumers who have been wronged should consult their state’s unfair trade practise legislation to see if they have a cause of action.

Unfair commercial practises are prohibited in the United States under Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which bans “unfair or deceptive actions or practises in or affecting commerce.” It applies to all people involved in commerce, including banks, and establishes the legal criteria for unfair commercial practises, which can be either unfair or misleading. The following are examples of unfair and misleading practises as defined under the rule:

Unfair Practices

An act is unfair when it meets the following criteria:

• It does or is likely to cause significant harm to consumers.
• Consumers are unable to avoid it in any reasonable way.
• It is not offset by countervailing consumer or competitive gains.

Deceptive Practices

An act or practice is deceptive when it meets the following criteria:

• A representation, omission, or practise deceives or is likely to deceive the consumer.
• Under the circumstances, a consumer’s understanding of the representation, omission, or conduct is deemed fair.
• The deceptive representation, omission, or practise is significant.

Conclusion:

The Consumer Protection Act and the Bill are intended to ban any type of trade that engages in unfair commercial practises, whether defined or not, and, more significantly, to protect consumers who are victims of this trade. This amendment is a step toward the importance of recognising the concept of unfair trade practise, which must not be overlooked at any cost, especially with the Consumer Protection Act serving as the sole defining authority for it, where the term must be given additional attention in its definition in order to protect all of the necessary consumer rights and avoid any ambiguities. When we examine the consumer’s right to return, we see that it is only conceivable if the items stay unused or if the service is ongoing in nature. In contrast, there is no mention of any facility or option for the money to be returned to the customer in circumstances when the items or services are utilised only once and are extinguished. Even if there are still unsolved concerns, we must welcome the reforms made in the Bill since they draw to our notice the safeguards that must be offered to consumers against unfair trading practises

REFERENCES

• https://www.mondaq.com/india/consumer-law/278276/expansion-of-the-scope-of-the-term-unfair-trade-practice-by-the-proposed-2011-amendment-to-the-consumer-protection-act-1986#:~:text=Conclusion%3A,are%20subject%20to%20this%20trade.
• http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1861/Unfair-Trade-Practice-in-India.html
• https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/unfair-trade-practice.asp#:~:text=Unfair%20trade%20practices%20refer%20to,unethical%20methods%20to%20obtain%20business.&text=An%20unfair%20trade%20practice%20is,or%20%E2%80%9Cunfair%20business%20practices.%E2%80%9D

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

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In the year 2021, we wrote about 1000 Inspirational Women In India, in the year 2022, we would be featuring 5000 Start Up Stories.