Right to safety

Topic: Consumer Rights and Consumer Protection · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Consumer Rights"

Meaning

The right to safety is a consumer's right to be protected against the marketing of goods, products or services that are hazardous to life and property [2][3].

It matters because some goods and services can cause serious harm if they are badly made or badly delivered. Examples include medicines, electrical goods, pressure cookers and medical services. It is one of the six consumer rights listed in Section 2(9) of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) 2019 [2][3].

Explanation

Where the right comes from

• Consumer right means a legal claim that a buyer has against sellers and producers. The buyer can enforce it through the law.
• Kennedy's four rights (1962). US President John F. Kennedy named four consumer rights: safety, information, choice and the right to be heard. Safety was on the list from the start.
• UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection were adopted on 9 April 1985 and revised in 2015. They ask countries to show vital safety information using symbols that people in every country can understand [6][7].
• In India:
• COPRA 1986 (Consumer Protection Act, 1986) was India's first full consumer law. NCERT lists safety among its six rights.
• CPA 2019 replaced COPRA and came into force in July 2020 [4].
• Section 2(9) of CPA 2019 now defines the right to safety [2][3].

What it covers: goods AND services

• Goods. A pressure cooker has a safety valve, a small part that lets out extra steam.
• If the valve is defective, pressure builds up inside the cooker.
• The cooker can explode and cause a serious accident.

• So valve makers must maintain high quality.

• Services. A patient is a consumer of medical services.

• Case: Reji Mathew (Kerala). He was a healthy Class IX boy who had a tonsillectomy (an operation to remove the tonsils) at a private clinic.
• He was given improper general anaesthesia (drugs that make a patient unconscious during surgery).
• This caused brain abnormalities, and he was crippled for life.

• Lesson: unsafe services break the right to safety just as unsafe goods do.

• Every way of buying. CPA 2019 covers offline shops, online shopping, teleshopping, multi-level marketing and direct selling [3]. The right to safety applies to all of them.

NCERT's point: safety needs two things

• Care by the producer. The producer must follow safety rules while making the product.
• Supervision by the public or the government. Someone must check that those rules are actually followed.
• Why unsafe products still survive. In NCERT's words, "supervision of these rules is weak and the consumer movement is also not strong enough".
• Quality marks (Class 7 link). ISI, Agmark and similar marks tell buyers that a product meets a set standard. They help buyers protect their own safety.

Legal tools that enforce the right

• Compulsory BIS standards. The government makes some product standards compulsory. Selling goods that break these standards is a violation of consumer rights and an unfair trade practice under CPA 2019 [5].
• Recall power. The CCPA (Central Consumer Protection Authority, the regulator set up under CPA 2019) can order unsafe goods to be recalled (taken back from buyers) and services to be withdrawn [3].
• Product liability. This is the producer's legal duty to pay for harm caused by a defective product.
• Under CPA 2019, a manufacturer must compensate a consumer who was harmed by defective goods or services [3].

• The consumer must first prove the defect [3].

• Safety notices. The CCPA warns buyers not to purchase risky goods that lack a valid ISI mark [5].

In India

• Law: Section 2(9) of CPA 2019, which came into force in July 2020 [2][4].
• Regulator: the CCPA. It can act suo motu, which means on its own, without waiting for a complaint [5].
• Pressure cooker cases (2022): the CCPA acted against e-commerce sellers of pressure cookers that did not meet compulsory BIS standards [5].

Platform (2022)	Cookers affected	Order	Penalty
Amazon	2,265	Tell buyers, recall the cookers and refund the price within 45 days	₹1,00,000
Flipkart	598	The same order	₹1,00,000

[5]

• CCPA safety notices [5]:
• 1st notice: helmets, pressure cookers and cooking gas cylinders.
• 2nd notice: electric immersion water heaters, sewing machines, microwave ovens and domestic LPG gas stoves.

• Later notice: a warning against buying acid on e-commerce platforms [2].

• What this shows: enforcement has moved beyond waiting for complaints. The CCPA now acts first, through safety notices, suo motu action and recall orders.

Don't confuse with

• Right to information: safety protects you from harm to life and property. Information is your right to know the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods, so that you are protected from unfair trade practices [2]. A missing expiry date is an information problem. An exploding cooker is a safety problem.
• Right to seek redressal: safety is about preventing harm. Redressal is about getting a wrong put right after harm, for example through compensation. Reji Mathew's injury broke his right to safety. His legal fight for compensation used the right to redressal.
• CCPA vs BIS: BIS sets the product standards and the ISI mark. The CCPA issues safety notices and orders recalls under CPA 2019 [5][3].
• Product liability vs recall: a recall takes unsafe goods off the market before more harm happens. Product liability makes the manufacturer pay compensation after a defect has caused harm [3].

Prelims Hooks

• The right to safety means protection against goods, products or services that are "hazardous to life and property". It is defined in CPA 2019, s.2(9) [2][3].
• Safety was one of Kennedy's four rights (1962), together with information, choice and the right to be heard. Trap: redressal and consumer education were not on his list.
• The CCPA, not BIS, issues safety notices. Its 1st notice covered helmets, pressure cookers and cooking gas cylinders [5].
• CCPA vs Amazon (2022): 2,265 substandard pressure cookers had to be recalled and refunded within 45 days, with a penalty of ₹1,00,000 [5].
• Selling goods that break compulsory BIS standards is an unfair trade practice under CPA 2019 [5].
• The UN Guidelines (1985, revised 2015) ask for safety information to be shown with internationally understandable symbols [6][7].

Mains Points

• Rules exist, but checking is weak (GS-III).
• NCERT says supervision is weak and the consumer movement is not strong enough.
• Unsafe cookers were sold online until the CCPA acted in 2022 and ordered recalls and refunds [5].

• Suo motu action and safety notices show a shift from waiting for complaints to preventing harm. A good answer can suggest stronger checking of online sellers.

• Services and digital markets are now covered (GS-II/III).

• The Reji Mathew case shows that healthcare is a consumer service.
• CPA 2019 covers e-commerce, direct selling and multi-level marketing [3].

• Product liability puts the cost of defects on the manufacturer [3]. This gives producers a strong reason to take care in production, which is the first half of NCERT's "care plus supervision" idea.

• Safety and market failure.

• Buyers cannot test a cooker's valve or a doctor's anaesthesia before they buy.
• Because of this gap, mandatory standards (BIS/ISI), recalls and liability rules are needed. Market competition alone will not keep unsafe goods out.

Related concepts

• Consumer rights
• Right to information
• Product labelling
• Maximum Retail Price
• Right to choose
• Tie-in sale

Read more

• Consumer rights I: safety, information and choice