Latest news with #ConsumerAffairsMinistry
India.com
01-06-2025
- Business
- India.com
What Is Dark Pattern? How Digital Platforms Trap Users With Cheap Trial Offers?
What Is Dark Pattern? Amid the Consumer Affairs Ministry's move to make people aware of 'dark patterns' deployed by apps and e-commerce sites, a formal complaint has been submitted to the Reserve Bank of India highlighting concerns about certain apps allegedly engaging in deceptive auto-debit practices, reported Times Now. The report said that these apps reportedly mislead users by offering trial subscriptions for Rs 1 or Rs 2, without clearly disclosing that initiating the trial will automatically activate an auto-debit ranging from Rs 149 to Rs 699 once the trial period concludes. The Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India recently convened a meeting which brought together key representatives from major e-commerce companies, industry associations, Voluntary Consumer Organizations, and National Law Universities for a focused dialogue on eliminating deceptive online practices. What Is Dark Pattern? A dark pattern is a design tactic used in websites, apps, or digital interfaces that deliberately manipulate users into making decisions they might not otherwise make like subscribing to a paid plan unknowingly. These patterns are deceptive and often serve the interests of the company rather than the user. False urgency tricks you into making quick purchases — it's a dark pattern. Stay smart, verify before you buy! Report violations to the National Consumer Helpline at 1915 or WhatsApp 8800001915. #ConsumerRights #ShopSmart #DarkPatterns #FalseUrgency #JagoGrahakJago #NCH1915 — Consumer Affairs (@jagograhakjago) May 31, 2025 Several well-known Indian platforms, including Kuku, Stage, and Seekho, have come under increasing scrutiny for reportedly using misleading billing methods that take advantage of gaps in digital payment systems — a pattern that poses significant concerns for both users and investors alike, reported CNBC TV18. Dark patterns, formally recognized as unfair trade practices under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, include tactics such as false urgency, basket sneaking, bait and switch, drip pricing, and subscription traps. Guidelines to curb these were issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) in November 2023. आज के 'Podcast with Jagriti' के इस खास एपिसोड में, हम बात करेंगे, ई-कॉमर्स की दुनिया में फैले डार्क पैटर्न्स के जाल के बारे में।#DarkPattern#Jagograhakjago #Jagriti #Podcast #NCH1915 #PodcastwithJagriti — Consumer Affairs (@jagograhakjago) May 25, 2025 What Did The Government Say? Union Minister for Consumer Affairs Pralhad Joshi has expressed concern around dark patterns in digital commerce. The Union Minister emphasised the importance of responsible industry behaviour, adding that the Guidelines on Dark Patterns were the result of intensive consultations with various stakeholders, including leading e-commerce companies and industry associations. With mutual agreement reached, the Minister urged all companies to now fully comply with the guidelines and integrate them into their internal governance and consumer protection mechanisms. Highlighting recent developments, Joshi noted a significant surge in consumer complaints related to dark patterns on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH). To address this, he issued a clear directive to all major e-commerce companies: conduct regular internal audits to identify and eliminate dark patterns on their platforms. आखिर क्या है Dark Pattern, जिसे लेकर मचा है बवाल, जानिए कैसे सरेआम काटी जाती है जेब, और आपको पता भी नहीं चलता!#DarkPattern #ECommercehttps:// — Zee Business (@ZeeBusiness) May 29, 2025 'Companies must not wait for the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to intervene. They should proactively recognize and remove these deceptive practices before notices are issued. This is not just regulatory compliance—it's about building trust with your consumers,' he stated. He said that the Jagriti App enables consumers to report dark patterns on e-commerce platforms directly to the CCPA and flags suspicious websites, while the Jago Grahak Jago App shields users from malicious platforms and offers real-time safety scores for the e-commerce link which a consumer is visiting. The Union Minister warned of action if companies failed to comply with the law. Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare stated that the CCPA has issued 11 notices related to violations involving dark patterns, along with over 400 notices for broader unfair trade practices. She also mentioned that the focus of regulatory scrutiny will now expand to include the quick-commerce and ride-hailing industries. The representatives of the major e-commerce companies AIRBNB, Amazon, Apple, Zepto, Electric, Tata Digital, Adidas India, Samsung, Ikigai Law, Indigo Airlines, Ixigo, MakeMyTrip, Mastercard, Meta, Netmeds, Namma Yatri, PharmEasy, Reliance Retail, Rapido, Shiprocket, Snapdeal, Swiggy, Thomas Cook, Uber, Whatsapp, Yatra, Zomato & Blinkit, Flipkart, Google, Justdial, ONDC, and Paytm were present during the meeting. Further, the major industry associations CAIT, CCI, FICCI, NASSCOM, PHDCCI, and Retailers Association of India along with Voluntary Consumer Organisations and National Law Universities, attended the meeting.
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Business Standard
30-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Consumer rights body issues guidelines for online sale of walkie-talkies
A regulatory body for consumer rights on Friday notified guidelines to curb the unauthorised sale of wireless devices, doing so almost three weeks after sending notices to ecommerce companies for listing and selling walkie-talkies without 'regulatory compliance'. The Central Consumer Protection Authority's (CCPA) 'Guidelines for the Prevention and Regulation of Illegal Listing and Sale of Radio Equipment including Walkie Talkies on E-Commerce Platforms, 2025,' mandate the listing of only authorised walkie-talkies operating on permitted frequencies. The guidelines call for full disclosure of frequency ranges and other technical parameters, prohibit misleading advertisements or product descriptions, and outline penalties and enforcement mechanisms for violations in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. Ecommerce companies should undertake 'due diligence' and verify regulatory compliance, including licensing where applicable. The listings lacking frequency information or necessary certification should be taken down. "These guidelines have been notified to curb the unauthorised sale of wireless devices that may pose risks to consumer safety, mislead consumers regarding their legal position and interfere with critical communication networks, including those used by law enforcement and emergency services," said the Consumer Affairs Ministry in a statement. The Ministry added that ecommerce platforms are 'under constant monitoring and examination'. CCPA on May 9 sent 13 notices to ecommerce companies about 16,970 product listings for the sale of walkie-talkies without proper frequency disclosure, licensing information, or approval. It said the companies had violated the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. Platforms that got notices were Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, OLX, TradeIndia, Facebook, Indiamart, VardaanMart, Jiomart, Krishnamart, Chimiya, Talk Pro Walie Talkie and MaskMan toys. Business Standard wrote to some of these companies when notices were sent but did not get a response.
Local Spain
22-05-2025
- Business
- Local Spain
Where are most of Spain's illegal tourist lets?
Spain's Consumer Affairs Ministry recently ordered Airbnb to delete nearly 66,000 listings for short-term lets in the country because they're breaching housing laws. The Ministry specifically asked the holiday rental company to take down 65,935 tourist accommodation ads because it considers them to be in violation of regulations. Reporting in the Spanish media suggests this could affect almost 20 percent of the total Airbnb listings in Spain. As things stand, only Airbnb listings in Andalusia, Madrid, Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and the Basque Country will be affected by the government's initial crackdown. The first of these rulings was issued at the end of last year and affected 5,800 homes in several regions across the country. This ruling was upheld by the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid, but Airbnb later appealed in May of this year. Now the final ruling has been issued. The most common violation is that the properties have failed to provide their tourist licence on the advert, which is mandatory in several regions. This could mean the properties don't have separate entrances, that locals have voted against them or they are located in historic central areas of cities where licences are no longer issued. Airbnb has increasingly dominated the short-term tourist rental market not only in Spain but around the world. In many ways, the company has become the bogeyman of Spain's anti-tourism movement, but in reality it's just one company among many that advertise pisos turísticos in Spain. Where are Spain's unlicenced tourist properties? According to figures from a study carried out by tourism think tank Mabrian for Spanish hospitality website HostelTur, there are around 400,000 total tourist apartments operating in Spain, but 38 percent of them are advertised online without reporting their tourist licence number. Digging into the data a little more, we can see some stark regional differences between parts of Spain, with some regions really cracking down on unlicenced accommodation, whereas others seem to be doing very little as over 80 percent of properties advertised there have no licence on the advert. Note that there is not concrete data in terms of absolute numbers available, rather the proportion of unlicenced properties. Highest proportion of Airbnbs advertised without licences (by province) By province, the parts of Spain with the highest proportion of unlicenced properties (or those advertised without them, at least) are the following: Albacete 86.8 percent Madrid 86.5 percent Ciudad Real 77.1 percent Guadalajara 75.8 percent Cuenca 73.1 percent Cantabria 72.6 percent Valencia 70.3 percent Navarre 69.8 percent Pontevedra 69.1 percent Valladolid 67.9 percent The capital Madrid, long a bastion of deregulation and centre-right free markets, has the second highest proportion in Spain. Though the total numbers are hard to quantify, it seems safe to assume that Madrid will have the highest absolute number of unlicenced tourist flats in Spain and probably by some margin. Interestingly, it also seems that provinces across central and northern Spain (besides Catalonia) have higher proportions of unlicenced tourist flats than in the south. Other tourist hotspots also have notable figures. The Balearic Islands, for example, has 67.8 percent of ads available reporting tourist licences. The province of Alicante, however, the province with the second highest number of tourist flats available in Spain, has a healthy majority of its ads (56.8 percent) not including tourist licence information in adverts. Of course, that an advert doesn't include the licence information does not necessarily mean the property doesn't have one, but it's a useful tool for indicating the likelihood in reality. Lowest proportion of Airbnbs advertised without licences (by province) The breakdown of figures for those provinces with the lowest proportion of unlicenced properties (or those advertised without them, at least) confirms this geographical correlation and reveals a clear concentration of provinces with low rates of unlicenced properties in southern Spain. Provinces across Catalonia and Andalusia, two of Spain's most popular tourist destinations, have the lowest percentages in Spain. Both areas, particularly the Catalan capital, Barcelona, were at the forefront of Spain's anti-tourism protest wave last year and are particularly sensitive to the ill effects of over tourism and its knock-on impact on the local housing market. Similarly, Andaluz cities like Seville, Málaga and Granada have also been very active in anti-tourism movements. The low percentages suggest that regional and local governments there are better enforcing tourist accommodation rules and policing offenders.
Local Spain
12-05-2025
- Business
- Local Spain
Spain aims to ban fake tourism and hospitality reviews
Through a new series of measures, including the possibility for business owners to request the removal of reviews if they can prove they're fake, the change forms part of broader amendments to the country's Customer Services Law, which is currently in the final stages of parliamentary processing. Though details are as of yet unclear, reports from Spain's state broadcaster RTVE state that in order for fake reviews to be taken down, the business must prove that the review is not real, either because the consumer has not bought the product or enjoyed the service in question, or because its content is demonstrably untrue. "As this is a general rule, it does not specify the way in which the trader must prove the untruthfulness of the review, but may use elements adapted to the specific case: evidence showing that an invoice shown in the review has been manipulated or that the prices referred to in the reviews are not real, for example," the Ministry explained. Other measures to this end include the possibility for the trader to reply to reviews in order to ensure that consumers receive complete information. The Consumer Affairs Ministry also wants to an obligation to leave reviews within 30 days of the purchase of the good or service. The aim of this initiative is to ensure that reviews correspond to the real and recent opinion of fellow consumers. According to the legal text seen by Spanish daily El País: "reviews issued must relate to goods or services purchased or used within 30 calendar days prior to the date of the review and the trader marketing the good or service to which a review relates shall be entitled to respond to the review through the same channel." In addition to these new features, the Ministry also reiterated initiatives already present in the current law, such as bans on the buying and selling reviews or the obligations on verifying reviews as having been submitted by a real consumer. The Ministry, headed by Sumar Minister Pablo Bustinduy, is in part taking inspiration from other countries, such as Italy, that have also sought to tighten up controls on online reviews. Websites with review services such as TripAdvisor, TheFork, and Booking can have huge a sway on where consumers take their business. In a country like Spain that depends on the tourism and hospitality sectors for a significant proportion of its GDP (12.3 percent in 2023, according to the latest data from Spain's national stats body, INE) removing fake or potentially damaging reviews is viewed as a way to defend business owners and by extension a driver of the economy. In 2023 tourism generated more than 2.5 million jobs, representing 11.6 percent of total employment in Spain.
Indian Express
29-04-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Consumer authority takes suo motu cognizance of non-refund of service charges by 5 Delhi restaurants
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has taken suo motu cognizance in the wake of non-refund of service charges by five restaurants in Delhi, the Consumer Affairs Ministry said Tuesday. In a statement, the ministry said action was being taken against 'Makhna Deli, Xero Courtyard, Castle Barbeque, Chaayos, and Fiesta by Barbeque Nation for failing to refund mandatory service charges despite judgment held by Hon'ble High Court of Delhi. Notices have been issued under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, directing the restaurants to refund the service charge amounts.' 'This measure is aimed at reducing the undue pressure on Consumers to pay additional amount at the time of availing services at any Restaurant as no Hotel or Restaurant shall force a consumer to pay Service Charge or Service Charge shall not be collected from consumers by any other name,' the statement added. The authority's action comes after the Delhi High Court upheld the CCPA guidelines on service charges last month. On July 4, 2022, CCPA had issued guidelines seeking to curb unfair trade practices and protect consumer interests in connection with service charges in hotels and restaurants. As per the guidelines, no hotel or restaurant shall add service charges to the food bill by default. 'Subsequently, it came to notice…through complaints received on the National Consumer Helpline (1915), that grievances had been registered alleging that certain restaurants continued to impose a mandatory service charge without obtaining prior consent from consumers, thereby disregarding consumer rights and indulged in unfair trade practices as per the Consumer Protection Act, 2019,' the ministry's statement said. CCPA was established under section 10 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. Its primary mandate is to regulate matters related to the violation of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, and false or misleading advertisements that are detrimental to the interests of the public and consumers at large.
