THE CONCEPT OF CAVEAT EMPTOR IN INDIAN SCENE
Consumerism in India is a recent and universal phenomenon. It is a social movement. Consumerism is all about protection of the interests of consumers. Consumerism today is an all pervasive term, which means nothing more than people’s search for getting better value for their money. Consumer’s satisfaction will benefit not only business but Government and society as well. So, consumerism should not be considered as consumer’s war against business. It is a collective consciousness on the part of consumers, business, Government and civil society to enhance consumer’s satisfaction and social welfare which will in turn benefit all of them and finally make the society a better palace to live in.
There are various components of consumerism. First and foremost is self-protection by consumers. Consumers must be aware of his rights, rise voice against exploitation and seek redressel of his grievances. Consumer’s consciousness determines the effectiveness of consumerism. It is the duty of the consumer to identify his rights and to protect them.
Buyer Beware
‘Caveat Emptor’ is a Latin phrase which means ‘Buyer Beware’, coined perhaps when buyers did not have many rights and the risks were higher that they could be sold poor quality goods. In modern times buyers perhaps, now have many rights and organizations help them and balance the power between buyer and seller and there is now probably great liability on the part of the seller to ensure they are selling merchandisable goods.
Caveat Emptor- The Need of the Hour
In olden days, the principle of Caveat Emptor, which meant buyer beware, determined the relationship between seller and buyer. In the era of open markets, buyer and seller came face to face, seller exhibited his goods, buyer thoroughly examined them and then purchased them. It was assumed that he would use all care skill while entering into transaction.
It is the obligation of the seller that he would disclose about the quality of the product. In addition, the personal relation between the buyer and the seller was one of the major factors in their relations. But with the growth of trade and its globalization the rule no more holds true. It is now impossible for the buyer to examine the goods before hand and most of the transactions are conducted by correspondence. Further, on account of complex structure of the modern goods it is only the producer or seller who can assure the quality of goods. With manufacturing activity become more organized, the producers or sellers are becoming more strong and organized whereas the buyer are still weak and unorganized. In the age of revolutionized Information Technology and with the emergence of E-Commerce related innovations. As a result, buyer is being misled, duped and deceived day in and day out.
In spite of these views, consumerism is still in its infancy in our country. Consumer awareness is low due to the apathy and lack of education among the masses. No one has told them about their rights to be informed about product quality, Price, protection against unsafe products, access to variety of goods at competitive prices, consumer education etc. What consumerism lacks here is education and information resources, testing facilities, competent leadership, price control mechanism and adequate quasi-judicial machinery. The providers of goods and services have been judicial have been reluctant to give due consideration to consumer interest protection.
Dissemination of information first: Regulations Then
There are three areas in consumer protection:
Consumer education helps buyers throughout the market place make smart decision – avoiding bad actors and bad products, minimizing losses and lawsuits. Consumer advocacy results in market conditions that encourage robust competition – providing consumers with more choices at lower prices and rewarding invertors who support innovation and excellence. Consumer protection is seamless – with licensing officials, investigators and law enforcement authorities working cooperatively regardless of their agency affiliation.
A fundamental assumption of market economies is that consumers will be fully informed. Markets are most efficient and innovation is best reward when consumers select the best goods and services at the best available prices. Of equal importance, consumer education can prevent the need for more intrusive and costly government intervention such as licensing and enforcement.
Even staunch consumer advocates believe that well-conducted education programs can provide consumers with the best of all protections. The ability to tell when a deal is too good to be true, to select wisely among providers, to assert their rights, to resolve disputes on their own, and what to do when they come across illegal activity.
The Consumer Protection Acts recognized the importance of consumer education and named it as a primary function of the Department of Consumer Affairs. And today, it is realized that the importance of education is first; regulations then.
Firstly, consumer are the best protected through a fair and competitive market with high standard of competence and ethical behaviour and consumer information.
Secondly, a regulatory structure should be pursued only when voluntary compliance fails. When regulation is used, it should be the best intrusive possible for ensuring public health, safety and welfare.
Relationship between Advertising and Consumer Knowledge:
Advertising can be defined as communication which promotes the purchase of products and services and advertisements are pervasive in the Western Culture. Ads are sandwiched between programs on TV, interspread with popular songs on the ratio and scattered among news in the daily news papers.
Each time a new communication technology is developed; merchants are quick to devise the ways of exploiting the medium for advertising purposes. Advertisers are more rapidly to exploit the commercial possibilities of Radio and TV. Facsimile machines are now used to transmit ads.
While advertisements may distract form a TV program or Newspaper’s other messages, might they also serve a more positive purpose? Can advertising advance consumer knowledge? All the same time, can consumer education help people become more knowledge able and critical about the goals of advertising? This digest provides a basic overview of issues related to advertising and the consumer.
Unscrupulous advertisers will sometimes advertise products that are just too good to be true. The Latin maxim, ‘Caveat Emptor’, which means ‘let the buyer beware’ is an important phrase to keep in mind when making consumer purchases. A child can learn that purchasers do not ordinarily get something for nothing. It is preferable it the child grasps this lesson before getting cheated, rather than afterwards. Teachers should encourage students to scan the daily newspapers or TV for ads that do not ring true. The more exposure, a child has to the motivations that lie behind questionable advertising method, the less likely it will be that the child will be fooled by such tactics.
The relationship between advertising and consumer knowledge has been the subject of much study. Interestingly, there does not appear to be a necessary connection between the amount of advertising to which a child is exposed and that child’s consumer knowledge.
Coordinating Efforts of State and Local Governments
The Department of Consumer Affairs has an obligation to make, sure that consumers are getting their money’s worth out of the State’s consumer related programs. The department has also an opportunity to inspire collaboration among the various regulators and law enforcement agencies chaired with preventing and responding to market abuses. The Government can begin to meet its obligation and to capitalize on present opportunities by expanding its ability to receive, analyze and follow-up consumer protections followed by the integrated consumer protection systems.
Conclusion
In India consumerism growing because most of the consumers are residing in the rural bias. The government and nodal agencies should be taken adequate steps for developing awareness in the areas of consumer rights and powers and including relevant laws among the general public especially in the rural areas because the rural areas are untapped potential.
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M.VASAN M.B.A., M.Com.,M.Phil., Ph.D Scholar, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India
