Question

Define consumer protection. Explain any three points of importance of consumer protection from the point of view of business.

Answer 1

consumer protection efforts grew out of this business definition of consumerism. Simply put, consumers are people. They are people who buy things. Consumer protection, therefore, refers to laws and other forms of government regulation designed to protect the rights of consumers. The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, serves as our nation's consumer protection agency and administers many different consumer protection laws, like the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

Consumer protection is based on consumer rights or the idea that consumers have an inherent right to basic health and safety.

Importance of Consumer Protection from Businessmen’s point of View: (any three)

1. Long-Term Interest of Business:

After the liberalisation and globalisation the level of competition has increased so much that not only internal but business has to face international competition. In the race of competition, the businessmen can win and capture a big share in the market only when they are able to satisfy its customers by designing the products keeping in mind the requirements of customers.

2. Businessman Uses Society’s Resources:

Businessmen use the resources of society. They earn a profit by supplying goods and services to the members of society so it must do something for society. Businessmen are merely trustee of resources; they must use these resources for the benefits of consumers.

3. Social Responsibilities:

A businessman has social obligations towards various groups and customer is one of the important groups. It is a responsibility of businessmen to provide quality goods at a reasonable price. Consumer protection guides businessmen to provide social responsibilities.

4. Moral/Ethical Justification:

Traditionally ethics was part of profession only, but today ethics is playing a very important role in business also. The ethics or a moral value practiced by the businessmen adds glory to businessmen. In today’s environment business without ethical value is not more than a criminal activity and no civil society can tolerate and allow the existence of an unethical business.

5. Government Intervention:

If businessmen want to avoid the intervention of government then they should not involve in unfair trade practices. Government intervention may spoil the image of a business. Businessmen should voluntarily involve in the activities which protect the interest of the consumer.