NEW DELHI: Clauses should be added to the Consumer Protection Bill to ensure that the advertising code being followed by Advertising Standards Council of India gets some legal teeth.
In its recent report on the Consumer Protection Bill which was introduced in Parliament last year in August, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs said this could be in the form of compelling the misleading advertiser to either issue corrective advertisement which itself is an expensive proposition.
There could also be some punitive measures need to be incorporated in the Advertising Code to cater to consumer interests also.
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This follows a recommendation by the Consumer Education and Research Centre of Ahmedabad. During the study of the Bill, the Committee had met several stakeholders as well as officials of the government and organizations of advertisers.
The Committee felt this would go a long way to correct the injury to consumers and competitor firms from the damages caused by way of misleading advertisements.
