Consumer duties
Topic: Consumer Rights and Consumer Protection · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Consumer Rights"
Meaning
Consumer duties are what a consumer should do to protect themselves. The law gives rights, but they work only if consumers use them. NCERT's alertness questionnaire describes an alert consumer. Such a consumer:
- insists on a bill and keeps it safely;
- checks the ISI mark and the expiry date;
- weighs goods such as a gas cylinder personally;
- does not assume that a high price means good quality;
- does not rush for catchy offers;
- complains when cheated instead of blaming fate.
NCERT concludes that the consumer movement needs the active involvement of consumers.
Example
A buyer gets a new LPG cylinder at home. They weigh it before accepting it, check its safety details, and ask the delivery person for a bill.
Don't confuse with
- Consumer rights: rights are what the law guarantees to the consumer, such as safety, information and redressal. Duties are what the consumer must do so that those rights actually protect them.