consumer awareness movement in india

7/30/2019 Consumer Awareness Movement in India

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The need for consumer protection arises due to the helplessness of the

consumers. They dont exercise their rights due to lack of awareness.

Exploitation in market place happens in various ways.

E.G-sometimes traders indulge in unfair trade practices such as when

shopkeepers weight less than what they should or when traders add charges that

were not mentioned before or when adulterated goods are sold.

The main aim of consumer protection is to provide better and all roundprotection to consumers.

The six consumer rights were included in the Consumer Protection Act1986.

Consumer movement in the present form came into being only in the

1930's in the West and only in the 60's in India. The basic objectives of

consumer movement world wide are as follows :

To provide opportunity to the consumers to buy intelligently J - Recognition of reasonable consumer requests 6 Protection against fraud, misrepresentation, unsanitary and unjust

products

Participation of consumer representatives in management of aspectsaffecting

consumers Promoting consumers interests


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The basic reason for the development of consumer movement in India are

different from those in the West. In western countries, consumer movement was

the result of post-industrialisation affluence-for more information about the

merits of competing products and to influence producers especially for new and

more sophisticated products. In India, the basic reasons for the consumers

movement have been:

Shortage of consumer products; inflation of early 1970's. Adulteration and the Black Market. Lack of product choices due to lack of development in technology Thrust of consumer movement in India has been on availability, purity

and prices

The factors which stimulated the consumer movement in recent years are:

Increasing consumer awareness Declining quality of goods and services Increasing consumer ,expectations because of consumer education Influence of the pioneers and leaders of the consumer movement. Organised effort through consumer societies


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RESEARCH

OBJECTIVE


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RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

The main objective of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is to protect the

interest and safeguard the rights of the consumers which are as follows:

To promote consumer awareness among the people of the country. To protect the rights of the consumers in the State and make them aware

of their duties (while purchasing, various goods and availing services)

To create awareness among the consumers about the Consumer ProtectionAct 1986 and other related Acts / Provisions through which grievances of

consumers can be redressed.

To take up activities such as conducting seminars, visual display,workshops, consumer camps, awareness camps, advertisement, leaflets,

booklets, brochures programmes in electronic media etc. for creating

awareness generation about rights responsibility for the consumer.

To organize library facilities where reference material on consumer rightswill be available for reference of general consumers and consumer

activists and other who interest on the subject.

To collect information about the quality, quantity, potency, purity,standard and price of goods and types of services available in the market,

(for creating awareness among the consumers about) the unfair trade

practices adopted by the unscrupulous traders and service providers.

To seek redressal in the matter of unfair trade practices or unscrupulousexploitation of consumers through provisions of law.

To render consultancy and advisory services to the consumers andConsumer Organizations to enable them to assert consumer rights and to

pursue remedies.


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To prepare and publish publicity material such as books, periodicals,journals, brochures to create awareness among the general people of

Orissa on consumer rights.

To function as a State level resource center for voluntary consumerorganizations, consumer activists and members of general public having

interest in protection of consumer rights.

Right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services whichare hazardous to life and property

Right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standardand price of goods or services so as to protect the consumer against unfair

trade practices

Right to be assured , wherever possible , access to a variety of goods andservices at competitive prices

Right to be heard and to be assured that consumers' interests will receivedue consideration at appropriate forums

Right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices and unscrupulousexploitation of consumers

Right to consumer education, Enforcement of consumer legislation,Advocacy and research, Education and awareness.

Establishment of the National Consumer Agency on a statutory basis Updating and consolidating consumer legislation and repealing some old

consumer laws

Transposing the EU Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices (UCPD) To take up such other activities as may be incidental to or is required for

furtherance of the above objectives.


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RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY


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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Various authors have defined it in different way. Research starts with the

question or problem. Its purpose is to find out the answers to question through

the application or scientific method. It is systematic and intensive study directed

to word a more complete knowledge of the subject study. Research can be

classified into two broad categories.

a. Basic Research

b. Applied Research

Market Research is systematic and objective study of problems relating to

the market of goods and services. It may be emphasized that it is not restricted to

many particular area of marketing, but is applicable to all phases of aspect.

Marketing Research is a key of education and analyzes the competitors product

positioning and how to gain competitive advance stage. It is an important tool to

study consumer opinion.

The systematic and objective search for an analysis is to get the

information relevant to the identification and solution of any problems in the

field of marketing.

Marketing research is the systematic design, collection, reporting of data

and finding the relevant solutions for a specific marketing situation or problem

faced by the company.

Research Design:

Type of study Exploratory Source of data Primary Data collection mode Structure questionnaire


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Sampling Plan:

Target population was employees of the various branches including

corporate headquarter of The J&K Bank.

Tools And Techniques

The following tools and techniques were implemented and put to use in

order to analyze ably.

Statistical Tools:

Pie charts Tables: TechnologicalTools:

Ms- Excel Ms-Word

Research Instruments

Marketing research has choice of two main research instruments in

collectingPrimary data, questionnaire and mechanical devices. In this marketing

research survey, I have used a questionnaire method for collecting the data.

This method consists of a set of questions resented to respondents for

their answers. The questionnaire is the most common instrument used to collect

primary data. A questionnaire consists of two types of questions close ended and

open-ended questions. Close ended questions refer to provide two or more

possible alternatives to the respondent. And the open-ended questions allow the

respondents to answer in their own words. In our research we have used both

types of questions in questionnaire.

Sources of Information

Both PRIMARY AND SECONDARY data was used for study in

questions.


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The sources relied upon Ire as under.

Primary Sources

a) Written facts and figures collected from target group and other consumerstoo.

b) Verbal information gathered from the target group.

Secondary Sources

a) Danikjatgran Website

b) Published material in the form of books and periodicals, and

Methods of Contact

The method of contact is personal and the respondents are approached

with the research instruments.


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INTRODUCTION


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INTRODUCTION

An individual who buys products orservices forpersonal use and not for

manufacture or resale. A consumer is someone who can make the decision

whether or not to purchase an item at the store, and someone who can be

influenced by marketing and advertisements. Mahatma Gandhi said, "A

consumer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on

us, we are on him. He is not an interruption to our work; he is the purpose of it.

We are not doing a favour to a consumer by giving him an opportunity. He is

doing us a favour by giving us opportunity to serve him. But, of late,

unfortunately cheating by way of overcharging, black .marketing, misleading

advertisements, etc has become the common practice of greedy sellers and

manufacturers to make unreasonable profits. In this context, it is the duty of the

government to confer some rights on consumers to safeguard their interest.

Consumer awareness is about making the consumer aware of his/her

rights. It is a marketing term which means that consumers are aware of products

or services, its characteristics and the other marketing Ps (place to buy, price,

and promotion).Though the first consumer movement began in England after the

Second World War, a modern declaration about consumers rights was first

made in the United States of America in 1962, where four basic consumer rights

(choice, information, safety and to be heard) were recognized. Ralph Nadar, a

consumeractivist, is considered as the father of consumermovement. March

15 is now celebrated as the World Consumer Rights Day. The United Nations in

1985 adopted, , certain guidelines to achieve the objectives of maintaining

protection for consumers and to establish high level ethical conduct for those

engaged in production and distribution of goods and services.

Consumer protection laws are designed to ensure fair trade competition

and the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. The laws are

designed to prevent businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices
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from gaining an advantage over competitors and may provide additional

protection for the weak and those unable to take care of themselves. Consumer

Protection laws are a form of government regulation which aim to protect the

MADs ofconsumers.

Concept of consumer protection:

Consumer protection means safeguarding the interest and rights of

consumers. In other Words, it refers to the measures adopted for the protection

of consumers from unscrupulous and unethical malpractices by the business and

to provide them speedy redressal of their Grievances. The most common

business malpractices leading to consumer exploitation are given below.

a) Sale of adulterated goods i.e., adding something inferior to the productbeing sold.

b) Sale of spurious goods i.e., selling something of little value instead of thereal product.

c) Sale of sub-standard goods i.e., sale of goods which do not confirm toprescribed quality standards.

d) Sale of duplicate goods.e) Use of false weights and measures leading to underweight.f) Hoarding and black-marketing leading to scarcity and rise in price.g) Charging more than the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) fixed for the

product.

h) Supply of defective goods.i) Misleading advertisements i.e., advertisements falsely claiming a product

or service to be of superior quality, grade or standard.

j) Supply of inferior services i.e., quality of service lower than the qualityagreed upon.
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CONSUMER MOVEMENT IN INDIA:

Consumers play a vital role in the economic system of a nation because in

the absence of effective demand that emanates from them, the economy virtually

collapses. Mahatma Gandhi said, "A consumer is the most important visitor on

our premises. He is not dependent on us, we are on him. He is not an interruption

to our work, he is the purpose of it. We are not doing a favour to a consumer by

giving him an opportunity. He is doing us a favour by giving us opportunity to

serve him. But, of late, unfortunately cheating by way of overcharging, black

marketing, misleading advertisements, etc has become the common practice ofgreedy sellers and manufacturers to make unreasonable profits. In this context, it

is the duty of the government to confer some rights on consumers to safeguard

their interests.

In the year 1958, the Indian Standards Institute had arranged a convention

at New Delhi. As per the resolution passed at the convention, the Consumers

Association of India was established in 1959.

In 1966, the Consumer Guidance Society of India was formed in Mumbai

with the object to protect consumers against rising prices of essential

commodities. In the same year on 2nd, 1996, Council for Fair Business Practices

was formed by leading industrialist like, J.R.D Tata and others.

The Indian Consumer Union was established in 1971. The activities of the

union include offering legal advice, testing facilities, arranging lectures and

seminars. The Consumer Education and Research Centre were formed in 1978,

at Ahemadad, to guide and protect Consumer Rights.

Consumer Co-operative Societies like Grahak Panchayat and Government

Employees Consumer Stores, etc, are also formed to protect consumers. They

make their purchases directly from producers and sell them at reasonable price to

members.
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The growth of consumer movement in India is very slow due to several

reasons such as, illiteracy of Indian consumers, general attitudes of the public,

lack of active support from political parties and other members of the society.

Only in urban areas like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, etc, the consumer movement

is gaining some prominence. There is hardly any consumer movement in rural

areas.

Consumer protection consists of laws and organizations designed to

ensure the rights of consumers as well as fair trade competition and the free flow

of truthful information in the marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent

businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an

advantage over competitors; they may also provide additional protection for the

weak and those unable to take care of themselves. Consumer protection laws are

a form of government regulation, which aim to protect the rights ofconsumers.

For example, a government may require businesses to disclose detailed

information about productsparticularly in areas where safety or public health

is an issue, such as food. Consumer protection is linked to the idea of "consumer

rights" (that consumers have various rights as consumers), and to the formation

of consumer organizations, which help consumers make better choices in the

marketplace and get help with consumer complaints.

Other organizations that promote consumer protection include

government organizations and self-regulating business organizations such as

consumer protection agencies and organizations, the Federal Trade Commission,

ombudsmen, Better Business Bureaus, etc.

Consumer interests can also be protected by promoting competition in the

markets which directly and indirectly serve consumers, consistent with economic

efficiency, but this topic is treated in competition law. Consumer protection can

also be asserted via non-government organizations and individuals as consumer

activism.
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HISTORY


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HISTORY

India has an ancient history of consumer protection. Consumer protection

was part of ancient culture and formed the core of its administration. But the

introduction of boundless commercialization of activities eclipsed the old rich

heritage. As in Europe, in India also the origin of the Consumer Movement was

in the form of Consumer co-operative India has an ancient history of consumer

protection. Consumer protection was part of its ancient culture and formed the

core of its administration. Kautilya's 'Arthasasthra' was the basic law of ancient

India and the same was strengthened with provisions toprotect consumers. Sale

of commodities was organised in such a way that general public was not put to

any trouble. If high profits (for the ruler) put general public in trouble, then that

trade activity was stopped immediately. For traders, profit limit was to be fixed.

Even for services timely response was prescribed; e.g. for sculpturist, carpenter,

tailor, washerman, rules for the protection of consumer interest were given.

Thus, for a washerman, it was said that he should return washed clothes

in a given time period, i.e., light coloured ones in five days, blue dark coloured

in 6 days and silken, woollen or embroidered in 7 days. Failing this they had to

pay fine. The Superintendent of Commerce was to supervise weights and

measures. For shortfall in weighinglmeasuring, sellers were fined heavily.

Weights and measures used in trade were manufactured only by the official

agency responsible for standardization and inspected every few months. Sellers

passing off inferior products as superior were fined eight times the value of

articles thus sold. For adulterated things, the seller was not only fined but also

compelled to make good the loss.


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CONSUMER MOVEMENT IN THE MODERN PERIOD:

Consumer movement in the present form came into being only in the

1930's in the West and only in the 60's in India. The basic objectives of

consumer movement world wide are as follows :

To provide opportunity to the consumers to buy intelligently Recognition of reasonable consumer requests Protection against fraud, misrepresentation, unsanitary and unjust

products

Participation of consumer representatives in management of aspectsaffecting consumers

Promoting consumers interestsThe basic reason for the development of consumer movement in India are

different from those in the West. In western countries, consumer movement was

the result of post-industrialisation affluence-for more information about the

merits of competing products and to influence producers especially for new and

more sophisticated products.

In India, the basic reasons for the consumers movement have been:

Shortage of consumer products Adulteration and the Black Market. Lack of product choices due to lack of development in technology Thrust of consumer movement in India has been on availability, purity

and prices

The factors which stimulated the consumer movement in recent years are:

Increasing consumer awareness Declining quality of goods and services

Increasing consumer, expectations because of consumer education Influence of

the pioneers and leaders of the consumer movement Organized effort through

consumer societies


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Stages of Development of the Consumer Movement

The Consumer Movement today is undergoing a silent revolution. The

movement is bringing qualitative and quantitative changes in the lives of people

enabling them to organise fhemselves as an effective force to reckon with. But

the path to reach this stage has not been easy. It has been a struggle against bad

business which always put profit before fairness in transactions.

The first stage of movement was more representational in nature, i.e., to

make consumers aware of their rights through speeches and articles in

newspapers and magazines and holding exhibitions.The second stage was direct

action based on boycotting of goods, picketing and demonstration. However,

direct action had its own limitations, that led to the third stage of professionally

managed consumer organisations. From educational activities and handling

complaints, it ventured into areas involving lobbying, litigation and laboratory

testing. This gave good results. Thus, for instance business sector has started

taking notice and co-operating with the movement. It has played a. role in

hastening the process of passing the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 which has

led to the fourth stage. The Act enshrines the consumer rights and provides for

setting up of quasi-judicial authorities for redressal of consumer duputes. This

act takes justice in the socio-economic sphere a step closer to the common man.

Achievements of Consumer movement :

Some interesting developments which are helping the consumer

movement include, Developments taking place in the field of consumer

education and some noticeable Changes that have place among business

organizations and their associations or Federations. Consumer Protection is

being incorporated in the courses at different levels In schools and colleges.

Full-fledged courses have been introduced in management and Law courses.


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A number of large organizations have set up Consumer Grievance Cells

as an in-house Redressal mechanism. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

has set up claims Review committees at the zonal and central levels. Petroleum

Companies, Railways, Banks, Income Tax Departments, have also initiated

setting up of public grievance cells. The Government of India has set up a

separate Directorate called Directorate of Public Grievances at Sardar Pate1

Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi. They deal with complaints relating to hawks,

railways, insurance, pensions and related matters. In the long run, they will cover

all the ministries. The nationalised banks are observing 15th

of every month as

the 'Customer Grievance Day.' where an aggrieved consumer can walk into the

top managers' offices in their respective town, district or zone. The Council of

Fair Business Practices, of more than 20 years standing, is also trying to help in

the redressal of complaints against business from individual consumers or

groups. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has

set up a Consumer Business Forum which meets once a quarter in different cities

of the country.

All stock exchanges in the country have also set up similar cells. The

Advertisement Standard Council of India (ASCI), Confederation of Indian

Industry (CII) and FICCI have evolved a code of ethics for their activities.

Another significant achievement of the consumer has been the

representation given to consumer organisations on the policy making bodies

(regulator machinery) of governments and Advisory Welfare Committees of big

business organisations and the service sector. Central and State (Government)

Consumer Protection Councils, regulatory departments of Preventions of Food

Adulteration, Supplies of Food and Drugs, Weights and Measures Department,

Quality Control Institutions like Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and

AGMARK, Petroleum Product Department, Railway Commuters Welfare

Committees, Regional Advisory Committees for Indian Airlines Services all

have representatives of the various consumer organisations. Thus, consumers get

full opportunity to participate in policy making aspects.


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It appears that the time has come when consumers in India can hope to be

'The King' in the market place very soon. The labour of dedicated individuals

and groups who have fought relentlessly for consumers rights through the

decades has not been in vain after all.

Consumer movement, in its present form in India, came into being only in

the 1960's with the formation of Consumer Guidance Society of India in 1966 in

Bombay. With its success, the consumer movement spread over to fight for

availability, purity and standard prices of commodities. At present, there are

about 1000 organisations all over the country. One can say that the consumer

movement in India has come of age. From simple awareness generation, it took

over to direct action and. then to testing and litigation. Its contribution to the

passing of Consumer Protection Act, 1986, has been a historic achievement.

Both business and bureaucrats have started taking consumers seriously.

Consumer grievance cells have been launched by important organisations

andcorporations. Consumers are represented on a number of consumer welfare

committees set up by various organisations.

THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986

The Act provides following remedies to an aggrieved consumer:

Removal of defects in goods or deficiency in service. Replacement of defective goods with new goods of similar description

which shall be free from any defect.

Return of price paid by the consumer. Payment of compensation for any loss or injury suffered by the consumer. Discontinue the restrictive, or unfair trade practice, and not to repeat it. Withdraw the hazardous goods from being offered for sale and not to

offer them for sale.

Provide for adequate cost to the aggrieved party.


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The Consumer Production Act provides for a three tier system of

redressal Agencies: one at district level known as District Forum, second at state

level known as 'State Commission', and third at national level known as

'National Commission'. A complaint is to be made to the district forum of the

concerned district where the value of goods and services and compensation, if

any, is up to Rs 20 lakhs, to the 'State Commission' between Rs 20 lakhs and Rs

100 lakhs, and to the National Commission for more than Rs 100 lakhs.

Interestingly, there is provision for appeals against the orders of a particular

redessal forum by the aggrieved party before the next higher echelon and even

from the findings of the National Commission before the Supreme Court.

CONSUMER AWARENESS IN OTHER COUNTRY

In India, Consumer Protection Act of 1986 is the law governing consumer

protection. Under this law, Separate Consumer tribunals have been set up

throughout India in each and every district in which a consumer [complaint can

be filed by both the consumer of a goods as well as of the services] can file his

complaint on a simple paper without paying any court fees and his complaintwill be decided by the Presiding Officer of the District Level. Appeal could be

filed to the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions and after that to

the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC). The

procedures in these tribunals are relatively less formal and more people friendly

and they also take less time to decide upon a consumer dispute when compared

to the years long time taken by the traditional Indian Judiciary. In recent years,

many effective judgement have been passed by some state and National

Consumer Forums.

Organisations like Decidebay.com now (Decidebuddy.com), Akosha.com

and Mouthshut.com play a vital role in helping consumers articulate their

concerns and resolve their problems as well.

Consumer protection law or consumer law is considered an area of law

that regulates private law relationships between individual consumers and the
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businesses that sell those goods and services. Consumer protection covers a wide

range of topics, including but not necessarily limited to product liability, privacy

rights, unfair business practices, fraud, misrepresentation, and other

consumer/business interactions.

It's a way of preventing fraud and scams from occ service and sales

contracts, bill collector regulation, pricing, utility turnoffs, consolidation,

personal loans that may lead to bankruptcy.

Australia

In Australia, the corresponding agency is the Australian Competition and

Consumer Commission or the individual State Consumer Affairs agencies. The

Australian Securities and Investments Commission has responsibility for

consumer protection regulation of financial services and products.

Germany

A minister of the federal cabinet is responsible for consumer rights and

protection (Verbraucherschutzminister). In the current cabinet ofAngela Merkel,

this is Ilse Aigner.

When issuing public warnings about products and services, the issuing

authority has to take into account that this affects the supplier's constitutionally

protected economic liberty (article 12 Basic Law, see Bundesverwaltungsgericht

(Federal Administrative Court)Case 3 C 34.84, 71 BVerwGE 183).

Republic of China (Taiwan)

Modern Chinese law has been heavily influenced by European civil law

systems, particularly German and Swiss law. The Republic of China Civil Code

contains five books: General Principles, Obligations, Rights over Things,

Family, and Succession. The second book of the Code, the Book of Obligations,

provided the basis from which consumers could bring products liability actions

prior to the enactment of the CPL.
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The Consumer Protection Law (CPL) in the Republic of China (Taiwan),

as promulgated on January 11, 1994 and effective on January 13, 1994,

specifically protects the interests and safety of customers using the products or

services provided by business operators. The Consumer Protection Commission

of Executive Yuan serves as an ombudsman supervising, coordinating, reporting

any unsafe products/services and periodically reviewing the legislation.

According to the Pacific Rim Law & Policy Association and the

American Chamber of Commerce, in a 1997 critical study, the law has been

criticised "Although many agree that the intent of the CPL is fair, the CPL's

various problems, such as ambiguous terminology, favoritism towards consumer

protection groups, and the compensation liability defense, must be addressed

before the CPL becomes a truly effective piece of legislation that will protect

consumers"

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom, as member state of the European Union, is bound

by the consumer protection directives of the EU. Domestic (UK) laws originated

within the ambit of contract and tort but, with the influence of EU law, it is

emerging as an independent area oflaw. In many circumstances, where domestic

law is in question, the matter judicially treated as tort, contract, restitution or

even criminal law.

Consumer Protection issues are dealt with when complaints are made to

the Director-General of Fair Trade. The Office of Fair Trading will then

investigate, impose an injunction or take the matter to litigation. However,

consumers cannot directly complain to the OFT. Complaints need to be made to

Consumer Direct who will provide legal advice to complainants, or re-direct the

individual complaint to Trading Standards for investigation. Due to restrictions

within the Enterprise Act 2002, individual complainants are unable to be told

whether their case is being investigated or not. In very rare cases, Consumer

Direct may direct a very large number of complaints to the OFT to be considered

as a systemic complaint. The OFT can also be engaged by consumer groups e.g.
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The Consumers Association or the statutory consumer protection body -

Consumer Focus - via a super complaint. The OFT rarely prosecute companies,

however, preferring a light touch regulation approach. Consumer complaints

against companies are not published, but investigation work, undertakings and

enforcements are located at. Many of the consumer protection laws e.g. Distance

Selling Regulations 2000 or Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations

1999 (14 years ago) are actually UK implementations of EU directives. The OFT

is one of the bodies responsible for enforcing these rules. This leads to a problem

in that these examples of legislation are clearly designed to deal with individual

complaints but the OFT will only deal with systemic complaints and will ignore

individual complainants redirecting them back to Consumer Direct.

The Office of Fair Trading also acts as the UK's official consumer and

competition watchdog, with a remit to make markets work well for consumers,

and at a local, municipal level by Trading Standards departments. General

consumer advice can be obtained from Consumer Direct or via a local branch of

the Citizen's Advice Bureau.

United States

Consumer protection laws often mandate the posting of notices, such as this one which

appears in all automotive repairshops in California
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In the United States a variety of laws at both the federal and state levels

regulate consumer affairs. Among them are the federal Fair Debt Collection

Practices Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Truth in Lending Act, Fair Credit

Billing Act, and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Federal consumer protection laws

are mainly enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department

of Justice.

At the state level, many states have adopted the Uniform Deceptive Trade

Practices Act including, but not limited to, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, and

Nebraska. The deceptive trade practices prohibited by the Uniform Act can be

roughly subdivided into conduct involving either a) unfair or fraudulent business

practice and b) untrue or misleading advertising. The Uniform Act contains a

private remedy with attorneys fees for prevailing parties where the losing party

"willfully engaged in the trade practice knowing it to be deceptive". Uniform Act

3(b). Also, the majority of states have a Department of Consumer Affairs

devoted to regulating certain industries and protecting consumers who use goods

and services from those industries. For example, in California, the California

Department of Consumer Affairs regulates about 2.3 million professionals in

over 230 different professions, through its forty regulatory entities. In addition,

California encourages its consumers to act as private attorneys general through

the liberal provisions of its Consumers Legal Remedies Act, Cal. Civil Code

1750 et seq.

California has the strongest consumer protection laws of any US state,

partly because of rigorous advocacy and lobbying by groups such as Utility

Consumers' Action Network[4], Consumer Federation of California and Privacy

Rights Clearinghouse.

Other states have been the leaders in specific aspects of consumer

protection. For example Florida, Delaware and Minnesota have legislated

requirements that contracts be written at reasonable readability levels as a large

proportion of contracts cannot be understood by most consumers who sign them.
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RIGHTS OF CONSUMERS

John F, Kennedy, the former USA President, in his message to consumer

had given six rights to consumers. These rights are (i) right to safety, (ii) right to

be informed, (iii) right to choose, (iv) right to be heard, (v) right to redress and

(vi) right to represent. These rights had paved the way for organised consumer

movement in the USA and later it spread all over the world. In India, the

Consumer Protection Act, 1986 has also provided for the same rights to

consumers. Let us have a brief idea about these rights of consumers.

a) Right to Safety

It is the right of the consumers to be protected against goods and services

which arehazardous to health or life. For example, defective vehicles

could lead to serious accidents. The same is true of electrical appliances

with sub-standard material. Only recently, there were mass protests and

boycott of soft drinks due to presence ofhazardous pesticides beyond

permissible limits. Thus, right to safety is an important right available to

the consumer which ensures that the manufacturers shall not produce and

sell sub-standard and dangerous products.


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(b) Right to be Informed

The right to be informed is an important component of consumer

protection. The consumer must be provided with adequate and accurate

information about quality, quantity, purity, standard and the price of the

goods and services. Now-a-days the manufacturers provide detailed

information about the contents of the product, its quantity, date of

manufacturing, date of expiry, maximum retail price, precautions to be

taken, etc. on the label and package of the product. Such information

helps the consumers in their buying decision and use of the product.

(c) Right to Choose

The right to choose provides that the consumer must be assured,

whenever possible, access to a variety of goods and services at

competitive prices. If the market has enough varieties of products at

highly competitive prices, the buyers have an opportunity of wide

selection. However, incase of monopolies like railways, postal service

and electricity supply etc. it implies a right to be assured of satisfactory

quality of service at a fair price.

(d) Right to be Heard

The rights to safety, information and choice will be frivolous without the

right to be heard. This right has three interpretations. Broadly speaking,

this right means that consumers have a right to be consulted by

Government and public bodies when decisions and policies are made

affecting consumer interests. Also, consumers have a right to be heard by

manufactures, dealers and advertisers bout their opinion on production,

marketing decisions and any grievances of the consumers. Now-a-days,

most of the top manufacturers and firms have set up consumer service

cells to attend to consumers complaints and take appropriate steps for

their redressal. Thirdly,


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(e) Right to Seek Redressal

The consumers have been given the right of redressal of their grievances

relating to the performance, grade, quality etc. of the goods and services.

If required, the product must be repaired / replaced by the seller/

manufacturer. The Consumer Protection Act has duly provides for a fair

settlement of genuine grievances of the consumers. It has also set up a

proper mechanism for their redressal at district, state and national levels.

(f) Right to Consumer Education

It means the right to receive knowledge and skill to become informed

consumer. In This direction the consumer associations, educational

institutions and the policy makers Can play an important part. They are

expected to impart information and knowledge About (i) the relevant laws

which are aimed at preventing unfair trade practices, (ii) the ways and

means which dishonest traders and producers may adopt to deceive the

consumers, (iii) insistence on a bill or receipt at the time of purchase, and

(iv) the procedure to be followed by consumers while making complaints.

Effective consumer education leads to an increased level of consumer

awareness and help them to enforce their rights more effectively, and

protect themselves against fraudulent, deceitful and grossly misleading

advertisement, labeling, etc.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF CONSUMERs:

(a) Be quality conscious

To put a stop to adulteration and corrupt practices of the manufacturers

and traders, it is the duty of every consumer to be conscious of the quality

of product they buy. They should look for the standard quality

certification marks like ISI, Agmark, FPO, Wool mark, Eco-mark,

Hallmark etc. while making the purchases.


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(b) Beware of misleading advertisements

The advertisement often exaggerates the quality of products. Hence, the

consumers should not rely on the advertisement and carefully check the

product or ask the users Before making a purchase. In case there are

discrepancies, the same should be brought to the notice of the sponsors

and the appropriate authority, if need be.

(c) Responsibility to inspect a variety of goods before making selection

The consumer should inspect a variety of goods before buying the goods

and service. For this purpose he/she should compare their quality, price,

durability, after sales service etc. This would enable the consumers to

make the best choice within the limit of their own resources.

(d) Collect proof of transaction

The consumer should insist on valid documentary evidence (cash

memo/invoice) relating to purchase of goods or availing of any services

and preserve it carefully. Such proof of purchase is required for filing a

complaint. In case of durable goods the manufactures generally provide

the warrantee/guarantee card along with the product. It is the duty of

consumers to obtain these documents and ensure that these are duly

Signed, stamped and dated. The consumer must preserve them till the

warrantee/guarantee period is over.

(e) Consumers must be aware of their rights

The consumers must be aware of their rights as stated above and exercise

them while buying goods and services. For example, it is the

responsibility of a consumer to insist on getting all information about the

quality of the product and ensure himself/herself that it is free from any

kind of defects.

(f) Complaint for genuine grievances

As a consumer if you are dissatisfied with the product/services, you canask for Redressal of your grievances. In this regard, you must file a proper


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claim with the company first. If the manufacturer/company does not

respond, then you can approach the forums. But your claim must state

actual loss and the compensation claim must be reasonable. At no cost

fictitious complaints should be filed otherwise the forum may penalize

you.

(g) Proper use of product/services

It is expected from the consumers that they use and handle the

product/services properly. It has been noticed that during guarantee

period, people tend to reckless use of the product, thinking that it will be

replaced during the guarantee period. This practice should be avoided.


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Jago Grahak Jago

An enlightened consumer is an empowered consumer. An aware

consumer not only protects himself from exploitation but induces efficiency,transparency and accountability in the entire manufacturing and services sector.

Realising the importance of consumer awareness, Government has accorded top

priority to Consumer Education, Consumer Protection and Consumer

Awareness. India is a country, which has taken a lead in introducing progressive

legislation for consumer protection. The most important milestone in Consumer

Movement in the country has been the enactment of the Consumer Protection

Act, 1986.

The Act has set in motion a revolution in the field of consumer rights, that

perhaps cannot be paralleled anywhere else in the World. The Act applies to all

goods and services unless specially exempted by the Central Government, in all

sectors whetherPrivate, Public or Co-operative.

Consumer Protection Act, 1986

The Act enshrines all the consumers rights which are internationally

accepted. As per the Act, consumer protection councils have been established at

Central, State and District levels to promote and protect the consumer rights.

They are:

Right to Safety: To be protected against the sale of goods and serviceswhich are spurious/ hazardous to life.

Right to information: To know the quality, quantity, weight and theprice of goods/services being paid for, so that one is not cheated by unfair

trade practices.

Right to Choose: To be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety ofgoods and services at competitive prices.

Right to be heard: To be heard and to be assured that the interest wouldreceive due consideration at appropriate fora.


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Right to Seek Redressal: To seek legal redressal against unfair orrestrictive trade practices or exploitation.

Right to Consumer Education: To have access to consumer education. Gandhiji in the light of the above rightly said about consumer and his

rights as the following:

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not

dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our

work - he is the purpose of i t. We are not doing him a favour by serving him.

He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to serve him.

It was therefore most appropriate that the Consumer Protection Act, 1986

was processed and enacted in India soon after the UN declaration.

Basic Framework for Consumer Protection

Consumer protection initiatives by the Government hinge on 3 basic

parameters. Firstly ensuring a legal framework that comprises of Consumer

Protection Act. The Consumer Protection Act enacted in 1986 has been

recognised as one of the finest basis of legislation enacted in any part of the

world and India can boast of being the only country having such specialised

legislation for consumer protection. The CPA has a three tier, simple, quasi

judicial machinery at the National, State and District level for hearing cases

raised by consumers. Secondly, evolving standards for different products to

enable the consumers to make an informed choice about different products.

Standards which are the essential building block for quality play a key role in

consumer protection. Standard could be on technical requirement

(specifications), improved specific standard terminology (glossary of terms),

codes of practice or test methods or management systems standards. The

standards are set generally by Government or inter-Governmental bodies but

world wide it is being recognised that voluntary establishment of standards plays

an equally important role for protecting consumers. Thirdly, consumer


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awareness and education is the main building block for consumer protection.

National Action Plan on Consumer Protection

Consequent upon the 50th National Development Council Meeting,

Planning Commission has identified consumer awareness, redressal and

enforcement of Consumer Protection Act as a priority agency for action by the

Deptt. of Consumer Affairs. The allocation for consumer protection activities

was significantly enhanced in the last 2 years of the X Plan.

Consumer Awareness Scheme in the XI Plan

The Consumer Awareness Scheme for the XI Plan amounting to a total of

Rs. 409 crores has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic

Affairs on 24.01.08. This scheme has been formulated to give an increased thrust

to a multi media publicity campaign to make consumers aware of their rights.

The slogan has now become a household name as a result of

publicity campaign undertaken in the last 3 years. Through the increased thrust

on consumer awareness in the XI Five Year Plan, the Government has

endeavoured to inform the common man of his rights as a consumer. As part of

the consumer awareness scheme, the rural and remote areas have been given top

priority. In a big country like India, given the scenario of economic disparity and

level of education and ignorance, educating the consumers remains a gigantic

task. Government has taken up number of activities and schemes in creating


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consumer awareness in the country as part of this Consumer Awareness Scheme.

Multi Media Publicity Campaign

As part of the Multi Media publicity campaign, the activities being

undertaken are: Publicity through print media using news paper advertisements,

to educate the consumers about their rights and responsibilities.

Publicity through electronic medium by telecast of video spots of 30 seconds

duration on various consumer related issues such as Grievance Redressal

system, MRP, ISI Hall-Mark, Alternate Dispute, Redressal system, weights and

measures, Rights of Consumers etc. Issues pertaining to rural and remote areashave been given prominence in the various advertisement spots.

Telecast of advertisement in North Eastern states in Regional languages of 20

seconds and 30 seconds duration on various consumer related issues such as

M.R.P. (Maximum Retail Price), Short Measurement, Expiry date on medicine,

adulteration, damaged product and redressal system.

The Department in consultation with the Department of Post has

disseminated consumer awareness messages through Meghdoot Post cards to

reach far-flung rural areas including North East States. A bigger plan of

partnership with the Department of Posts to use the vast network of postal

department for spreading the message of consumer awareness has been chalked

out Calendars containing the message of consumer awareness are being

displayed through the vast network of 1.55 lakhs post offices.

The Department through Printed Literature is also creating awareness. A folder

entitled Consumer Awareness Mission containing the salient features of

Consumer Protection Act 1986, Consumer Resource kit as well pocket calendars

and posters is being distributed during various events such as IITF, Nukkad

Nataks and also through the State Governments at grass root level. The publicity

material relating to consumer awareness has also been translated in regional

languages and is being disseminated to various State Governments.

Nukkad Nataks are being performed in consultation with Song & Drama


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division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting . More than 1000

programmes in all the States/UTs have been organised to create awareness at

grass root level.

A pilot project National Consumer Help Line initiated can be accessed

through a Toll Free Number 1800-11-4000 which is being operated by Delhi

University for counselling the Consumers to redress their grievances. The timing

of toll free number facility is available to consumers from 9-30 A.M. to 5-30

P.M. on all the working days (MondaySaturday). Through the various

advertisements pertaining to Department of Consumer Awareness adequate

publicity has been given to National Helpline so that the affected consumerscould seek guidelines/counselling through the national helpline.

In order to reach maximum number of consumers, the Department has telecast

video spots containing consumer related information during the popular sports

events such as Tri-series cricket tournament, Indo-Pak Series, Indo-Australia

Series, Indo- England Cricket Series etc.

India is a country with more than 70% population being under 35 years.

The youngsters are using the internet in a big way for various purposes and also

happen to be major consumers. Realizing this, a major initiative is being taken to

spread consumer awareness through the online medium. The advertisements

being brought out by the Department are also being displayed on the website of

the Ministrywww.fcamin.nic.in.

Advertisements are being carried in journals of Publication Division such

as Yojana, Kurukshetra, Bal Bharti, Aajkal and their regional editions. Focussed

articles on consumer awareness are being published in these magazines keeping

in view their target readership. Employment News, the flagship publication of

Publication Division, which is the largest selling career weekly of its kind

occasionally publishes articles that are of interest to youngsters in keeping them

informed about their rights. The advertisements of Department are also

published regularly in Employment News/Rojgar Samachar so that the youth ofthe country are made aware of their consumer rights.
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Participation in India International Trade Fair

Keeping in view the large number of visitors to India International Trade

Fair, the Department displayed its activities through a stall in IIPA. Publicity

material regarding main provisions of Consumer Protection, Standardisation,

Weights & Measures, ISI, Hall Marking and other issues of consumer interest

was distributed free of cost. On the spot guidance was also given to consumers

during the Trade Fair.

Joint Campaign

has become the focal theme through which issues

concerning the functioning of almost all Government Departments having a

consumer interface can been addressed. To achieve this objective joint

campaigns have been undertaken/are being undertaken with a number of

Government Departments. The Department had run a joint campaign with

Bureau of Energy Efficiency to educate people about energy conservation by

having awareness of the BEE star labels. A joint campaign with National

Pharmaceuticals Product Authority is being devised to educate consumers about

the various issues concerning pharma industry. Similarly, campaigns with

Reserve Bank of India, FICCI, Ministry of Urban Development (for real estate

sector) and HRD (for education sector) are being planned.

Special scheme on assistance to State Governments/UTs

Considering the fact that active involvement of State Governments inawareness campaign is crucial in taking forward the movement to rural, remote

and backward areas, State/UT Governments have been actively associated in

expanding the area of consumer awareness. In fact the effectiveness of the

scheme is enhanced by the involvement of States/UTs/PRIs. The provision for

grant in-aid/support to States/UTs has been one of the key components of the

Consumer awareness scheme.


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The Department of Consumer Affairs provided publicity material such as

posters, audio, video, folders, calendars, and magazines etc. to the State

Governments/UTs for distribution through panchayats in the rural areas.

The Future Roadmap

The multi media publicity to educate consumers and make them aware

about their rights will have a long lasting impact not only on the end consumers

but also on the entire manufacturing and services sector The scheme will go a

long way in introducing greater accountability and transparency in the services

provided by the public as well as private sector since the end user ie a

consumer will be educated and aware enough to ask for best possible services in

return of his hard earned money. Jago Grahak Jago is thus an initiative which

empowers consumers by making them aware about their rights as well as the

Grievance.


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ISI mark

ISI mark is a certification mark for industrial products in India. The

mark certifies that a product conforms to the Indian Standard,mentioned as

IS:xxxx on top of the mark, developed by theBureau of Indian Standards(BIS),

the nationalstandards bodyof India. TheISI mark is by far the most recognized

certification mark in theIndian subcontinent. The name ISI is an abbreviation of

Indian Standards Institute, the former name of the Bureau of Indian Standards.

The ISI mark is mandatory for certain products to be sold in India, like many of

the electrical appliances viz; switches, electric motors, wiring cables, heaters,

kitchen appliances etc., and other products like portland cement, LPG valves,

LPG cylinders, automotive tyres etc. But in the case of most other products it is

voluntary.

It is very common in India to find products with fake ISI marks, that is, affixing

ISI marks on the product without actually getting certified. Fake ISI marks

usually do not carry (i) the mandatory 7-digit license number(written as CM/L-

xxxxxxx) required by BIS;and (ii)IS number on top of the ISI mark which

signifies the number of the Indian Standard for the particular product. This is a

punishable offense by the law, but the practice is common.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certification_markhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certification_markhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Indian_Standardshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Indian_Standardshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Indian_Standardshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standards_bodyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standards_bodyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standards_bodyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_subcontinenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_subcontinenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_subcontinenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_switchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_switchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_motorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_motorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquefied_petroleum_gashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquefied_petroleum_gashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquefied_petroleum_gashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_motorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_switchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_subcontinenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standards_bodyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Indian_Standardshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certification_mark


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International Organization for Standardization

The International Organization for Standardization (French:

Organisation internationale de normalisation, Russian:

, tr. Myezhdunarodnaya organizatsiya po

standartizatsii), widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body

composed of representatives from various national standards organizations.

Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promotes worldwide

proprietary, industrial, and commercial standards. It has its headquarters in

Geneva, Switzerland.

Name and abbreviation

The three official languages of the ISO are English, French, and Russian.

The organization's logos in two of its official languages, English and French,

include the wordISO, and it is usually referred to by this short-form name. The

organization states thatISO is not an acronym or initialism for the organization's

full name in any official language. Recognizing that its initials would be

different in different languages, the organization adopted ISO, based on the

Greek word isos (, meaning equal), as the universal short form of its

name.However, one of the founding delegates, Willy Kuert, recollected the

original naming question with the comment: "I recently read that the name ISO

was chosen because 'iso' is a Greek term meaning 'equal'. There was no mention

of that in London!"

The logo and the nameISO are both registered trademarks, and their use

is restricted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Russianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_standardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standards_organizationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_standardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genevahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym_and_initialismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym_and_initialismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genevahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_standardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standards_organizationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_standardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Russianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language


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The organization today known as ISO began in 1926 as the International

Federation of the National Standardizing Associations (ISA), whose focus was

mainly mechanical engineering. It was disbanded in 1942 during World War II

but was reorganized under its current name, ISO, in 1946, when delegates from

25 countries met at the Institute of Civil Engineers in London; the new

organization officially began operations in February 1947.

ISO is a voluntary organization whose members are recognized

authorities on standards, each one representing one country. The bulk of the

work of ISO is done by the 2,700 technical committees, subcommittees, and

working groups. Each committee and subcommittee is headed by a Secretariat

from one of the member organizations.

Financing

ISO is funded by a combination of:

Organizations that manage the specific projects or loan experts toparticipate in the technical work.

Subscriptions from member bodies ("the national body mostrepresentative of standardization in its country"). These subscriptions are

in proportion to each country's gross national product and trade figures.

Sale of standards.International Standards and other publications

ISO's main products are international standards. ISO also publishes

technical reports, technical specifications, publicly available specifications,

technical corrigenda, and guides.

International standards are designated with the format ISO[/IEC]

[/ASTM] [IS] nnnnn[-p]:[yyyy] Title, where nnnnn is the number of the

standard, p is an optional part number, yyyy is the year published, and Title

describes the subject. IEC forInternational Electrotechnical Commission is

included if the standard results from the work of ISO/IEC JTC1 (the ISO/IEC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_engineeringhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Civil_Engineershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Londonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_producthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erratumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Electrotechnical_Commissionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Electrotechnical_Commissionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Electrotechnical_Commissionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erratumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_producthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Londonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Civil_Engineershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_engineering


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Joint Technical Committee). ASTM (American Society for Testing and

Materials) is used for standards developed in cooperation with ASTM

International. The date and IS are not used for an incomplete or unpublished

standard and may under some circumstances be left off the title of a published

work.

Technical reports are issued when a technical committee or subcommittee

has collected data of a different kind from that normally published as an

International Standard. Such as references and explanations. The naming

conventions for these are the same as for standards, except TR prepended instead

ofISin the report's name. Examples:

ISO/IEC TR 17799:2000 Code of Practice for Information SecurityManagement

ISO/TR 19033:2000 Technical product documentation Metadata forconstruction documentation

Technical specifications can be produced when "the subject in question is

still under development or where for any other reason there is the future but notimmediate possibility of an agreement to publish an International Standard".

Publicly Available Specifications may be "an intermediate specification,

published prior to the development of a full International Standard, or, in IEC

may be a 'dual logo' publication published in collaboration with an external

organization". Both are named by convention similar to Technical Reports, for

example:

ISO/TS 16952-1:2006 Technical product documentation Referencedesignation systemPart 1: General application rules

ISO/PAS 11154:2006 Road vehiclesRoof load carriersISO sometimes issues technical corrigenda. Corrigenda (plural of

corrigendum) are amendments to existing standards because of minor technical

flaws, usability improvements, or limited applicability extensions. Generally,
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these are issued with the expectation that the affected standard will be updated or

withdrawn at its next scheduled review.

ISO Guides are meta-standards covering "matters related to international

standardization". They are named in the format "ISO[/IEC] Guide N:yyyy:

Title", for example:

ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004 Standardization and related activities Generalvocabulary

ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996 General requirements for bodies operatingproduct certification

Standardization process

A standard published by ISO/IEC is the last stage of a long process that

commonly starts with the proposal of new work within a committee. Here are

some abbreviations used for marking a standard with its status:

PWI - Preliminary Work Item NP or NWIP - New Proposal / New Work Item Proposal (e.g., ISO/IEC

NP 23007)

AWI - Approved new Work Item (e.g., ISO/IEC AWI 15444-14) WD - Working Draft (e.g., ISO/IEC WD 27032) CD - Committee Draft (e.g., ISO/IEC CD 23000-5) FCD - Final Committee Draft (e.g., ISO/IEC FCD 23000-12) DIS - Draft International Standard (e.g., ISO/IEC DIS 14297) FDIS - Final Draft International Standard (e.g., ISO/IEC FDIS 27003) PRF - Proof of a new International Standard (e.g., ISO/IEC PRF 18018) IS - International Standard (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007)

Abbreviations used for amendments: NP Amd - New Proposal Amendment (e.g.,

ISO/IEC 15444-2:2004/NP Amd 3)


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AWI Amd - Approved new Work Item Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC14492:2001/AWI Amd 4)

WD Amd - Working Draft Amendment (e.g., ISO 11092:1993/WD Amd1)

CD Amd / PDAmd - Committee Draft Amendment / Proposed DraftAmendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/CD Amd 6)

FPDAmd / DAM (DAmd) - Final Proposed Draft Amendment / DraftAmendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 14496-14:2003/FPDAmd 1)

FDAM (FDAmd) - Final Draft Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/FDAmd 4)

PRF Amd - (e.g., ISO 12639:2004/PRF Amd 1) Amd - Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Amd 1:2007)

Other abbreviations

TR - Technical Report (e.g., ISO/IEC TR 19791:2006) DTR - Draft Technical Report (e.g., ISO/IEC DTR 19791) TS - Technical Specification (e.g., ISO/TS 16949:2009) DTS - Draft Technical Specification (e.g., ISO/DTS 11602-1) PAS - Publicly Available Specification TTA - Technology Trends Assessment (e.g., ISO/TTA 1:1994)

IWA - International Workshop Agreement (e.g., IWA 1:2005)

Cor - Technical Corrigendum (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Cor 1:2008) Guide - a guidance to technical committees for the preparation of

standards

International Standards are developed by ISO technical committees (TC) and

subcommittees (SC) by a process with six steps:

Stage 1: Proposal stage


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Stage 2: Preparatory stage Stage 3: Committee stage Stage 4: Enquiry stage Stage 5: Approval stage Stage 6: Publication stage The TC/SC may set up working groups (WG) of experts for the

preparation of a working drafts. Subcommittees may have several

working groups, which can have several Sub Groups (SG).

Stages in the development process of an ISO standard

Stage

codeStage

Associated

document

name

Abbreviations Description

00Preliminary

stage

Preliminary

work itemPWI

10Proposal

stage

New work

item proposalNP or NWIP, NP Amd/TR/TS/IWA

20Preparatory

stage

Working

draft(s)

AWI, AWI Amd/TR/TS, WD, WD

Amd/TR/TS

30

Committee

stage

Committee

draft(s)

CD, CD Amd/Cor/TR/TS, PDAmd

(PDAM), PDTR, PDTS

40Enquiry

stageEnquiry draft

DIS, FCD, FPDAmd, DAmd

(DAM), FPDISP, DTR, DTS(CDV in IEC)

50Approval

stage

Final draft

International

Standard

FDIS, FDAmd (FDAM), PRF, PRF

Amd/TTA/TR/TS/Suppl, FDTR
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60Publication

stage

International

StandardISO TR, TS, IWA, Amd, Cor

90 Reviewstage

ISO TR, TS, IWA, Amd, Cor

95Withdrawal

stage

It is possible to omit certain stages, if there is a document with a certaindegree of maturity at the start of a standardization project, for example a

standard developed by another organization. ISO/IEC directives allow

also the so-called "Fast-track procedure". In this procedure a document is

submitted directly for approval as a draft International Standard (DIS) to

the ISO member bodies or as a final draft International Standard (FDIS) if

the document was developed by an international standardizing body

recognized by the ISO Council.

The first stepa proposal of work (New Proposal) is approved at therelevant subcommittee or technical committee (e.g., SC29 and JTC1

respectively in the case of Moving Picture Experts Group - ISO/IEC

JTC1/SC29/WG11). A working group (WG) of experts is set up by the

TC/SC for the preparation of a working draft. When the scope of a new

work is sufficiently clarified, some of the working groups (e.g., MPEG)

usually make open request for proposalsknown as a "call for

proposals". The first document that is produced for example for audio and

video coding standards is called a verification model (VM) (previously

also called a "simulation and test model"). When a sufficient confidence

in the stability of the standard under development is reached, a working

draft (WD) is produced. This is in the form of a standard but is kept

internal to working group for revision. When a working draft is

sufficiently solid and the working group is satisfied that it has developed

the best technical solution to the problem being addressed, it becomes
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committee draft (CD). If it is required, it is then sent to the P-members of

the TC/SC (national bodies) for ballot.

The CD becomes final committee draft (FCD) if the number of positivevotes is above the quorum. Successive committee drafts may be

considered until consensus is reached on the technical content. When it is

reached, the text is finalized for submission as a draft International

Standard (DIS). The text is then submitted to national bodies for voting

and comment within a period of five months. It is approved for

submission as a final draft International Standard (FDIS) if a two-thirds

majority of the P-members of the TC/SC are in favour and not more than

one-quarter of the total number of votes cast are negative. ISO will then

hold a ballot with National Bodies where no technical changes are

allowed (yes/no ballot), within a period of two months. It is approved as

an International Standard (IS) if a two-thirds majority of the P-members

of the TC/SC is in favour and not more than one-quarter of the total

number of votes cast are negative. After approval, only minor editorial

changes are introduced into the final text. The final text is sent to the ISO

Central Secretariat, which publishes it as the International Standard.

ISO document copyright ISO documents are copyrighted and ISO charges for copies of most. ISO

does not, however, charge for most draft copies of documents in

electronic format. Although useful, care must be taken using these drafts

as there is the possibility of substantial change before it becomes finalizedas a standard. Some standards by ISO and its official U.S. representative

(and the International Electrotechnical Commission's via the U.S.

National Committee) are made freely available.
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Agmark

AGMARK is a certification mark employed on agricultural products in

India, assuring that they conform to a set of standards approved by the

Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, an agency of the Government of

India.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

TheAGMARKis legally enforced in India by the Agricultural

Produce (Grading and Marking) Act of 1937 (and ammended in 1986). The

present AGMARK standards cover quality guidelines for 205 different

commodities spanning a variety of Pulses, Cereals, Essential Oils, Vegetable

Oils, Fruits & Vegetables, and semi-processed products like Vermicelli.

The term agmark was coined by joining the words 'Ag' to mean

agriculture and 'mark' for a certification mark. This term was introduced

originally in the bill presented in the parliament of India for the Agricultural

Produce (Grading and Marking) Act.

The entire system of Agmark, including the name,

consumer awareness movement in india

Documents