IndiaConsumer Protection Act, 2019, Chapter VI, product liability of manufacturers, service providers and sellers
Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (Act 35 of 2019), ss. 82-87
In force since .
A product liability rule binding public and private bodies.
- Private right of action
- Yes
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
What it requires
- The Act defines a product as any article, goods, substance or raw material possessing intrinsic value that is capable of delivery, wholly assembled or as a component part, and produced for introduction to trade or commerce; it does not say whether software or an AI system supplied on its own is a product (section 2(33)).
- If you make or assemble a product, put your own mark on one made by others, design or produce it before its sale, or make it and place it on the market, you are liable for harm it causes through a manufacturing defect, a design defect, a deviation from manufacturing specifications, a failure to conform to your express warranty, or missing instructions for correct use or warnings about improper use (sections 2(36), 84(1)).
- Proving that you were not negligent or fraudulent in making the express warranty of a product does not excuse you as its manufacturer (section 84(2)).
- If you provide a service in respect of a product, perform it to the quality, nature and manner the law or your contract requires, do not withhold information in a way that causes harm, issue adequate instructions or warnings, and keep to your express warranty and contract terms; a service that falls short makes you liable for the harm (sections 2(38), 85).
- If you import, sell, distribute or otherwise place on the market a product you did not make, you answer for harm it causes if you controlled its design, testing, manufacture, packaging or labelling, altered it, gave your own express warranty, failed to take reasonable care in assembling, inspecting or maintaining it, or did not pass on the manufacturer's warnings and instructions (sections 2(37), 86(a) to (c), (e)).
- If you sell a product whose manufacturer is unknown, cannot be served, is not subject to the law in force in India, or cannot have an order enforced against it, you answer for the product in the manufacturer's place (section 86(d)).
- Give adequate warnings and instructions with your product; you are not liable for failing to warn where you warned the employer that bought it for the workplace, the purchaser of a component, or the experts under whose supervision it is meant to be used, where the complainant was under the influence of alcohol or an unprescribed drug, or where the danger was obvious or commonly known (section 87(2), (3)).
- A product seller is not liable where the product was misused, altered or modified at the time of harm (section 87(1)).
- Claims cover damage to property other than the product itself, personal injury, illness or death, and attendant mental agony or emotional distress, but not harm to the product itself, damage on account of breach of warranty conditions, or commercial or economic loss (section 2(22)).
- A complaint must reach a District, State or National Commission within two years of the cause of action arising, unless the Commission accepts sufficient cause for the delay and records its reasons (section 69).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
Who enforces it
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Is software, or an AI system, supplied on its own a product under section 2(33), which reaches any article or goods or substance or raw material possessing intrinsic value and capable of delivery, or a service under section 2(42)?
What this law does
Chapter VI of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 applies to every claim for compensation under a product liability action for any harm caused by a defective product manufactured by a product manufacturer, serviced by a product service provider or sold by a product seller. A product liability action may be brought by a complainant against a product manufacturer, a product service provider or a product seller for any harm caused on account of a defective product.
A product manufacturer is liable if the product contains a manufacturing defect, is defective in design, deviates from manufacturing specifications, does not conform to the express warranty, or fails to contain adequate instructions of correct usage or warnings regarding improper or incorrect usage. A product manufacturer is liable even if it proves that it was not negligent or fraudulent in making the express warranty of the product.
A product service provider is liable if its service was faulty, imperfect, deficient or inadequate in the quality, nature or manner of performance required by law, contract or otherwise, if an act of omission or commission, negligence or conscious withholding of information caused harm, if it did not issue adequate instructions or warnings to prevent harm, or if the service did not conform to the express warranty or the terms and conditions of the contract.
A product seller that is not the product manufacturer is liable if it exercised substantial control over the designing, testing, manufacturing, packaging or labelling of the product, altered or modified it in a way that was the substantial factor in causing the harm, made an express warranty of its own that the product failed to meet, causing the harm, or failed to exercise reasonable care in assembling, inspecting or maintaining the product or to pass on the manufacturer's warnings or instructions where that failure was the proximate cause of the harm.
A product seller is also liable where the identity of the product manufacturer is not known, or the manufacturer cannot be served with notice or process, is not subject to the law in force in India, or an order against it cannot be enforced. A product liability action cannot be brought against a product seller if, at the time of harm, the product was misused, altered or modified.
In an action based on a failure to provide adequate warnings or instructions, a product manufacturer is not liable where it gave the warnings or instructions to an employer that bought the product for use at the workplace or to the purchaser of a component or material whose end product caused the harm, or employed reasonable means to give them to the experts by or under whose supervision the product is legally meant to be used or dispensed, or where the complainant was under the influence of alcohol or of a prescription drug not prescribed by a medical practitioner.
A product manufacturer is not liable for failure to instruct or warn about a danger that is obvious or commonly known to the user or consumer, or that the user or consumer ought to have known.
Harm, in relation to product liability, includes damage to property other than the product itself, personal injury, illness or death, mental agony or emotional distress attendant to these, and losses resulting from them, but not harm caused to the product itself, damage to property on account of breach of warranty conditions, or any commercial or economic loss.
A product is any article or goods or substance or raw material, which may be in gaseous, liquid or solid state, possessing intrinsic value, capable of delivery either wholly assembled or as a component part and produced for introduction to trade or commerce, other than human tissues, blood, blood products and organs. A consumer's buying of goods and hiring or availing of services include online transactions through electronic means.
A District, State or National Commission may not admit a complaint filed more than two years after the cause of action arose, unless the complainant shows sufficient cause and the Commission records its reasons for condoning the delay. The Act received the assent of the President on . The Central Government appointed as the date on which sections 82 to 87 came into force.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app distributes a software product or ships a mobile app.
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