India Intends to Establish a Single System for Reporting Deceptive Advertisements

The Indian government intends to implement a unified system to address consumer complaints regarding deceptive advertisements. At the moment, the National Consumer Helpline, the Press Council of India, and Broadcast Seva have all received complaints from consumers. As using different platforms to handle complaints can cause delays and irregularities, the government wants to streamline the procedure.

The consumer goods company Patanjali faced harsh criticism from the Supreme Court earlier this year for their deceptive advertisements. As a result, the court ordered that advertisers obtain a self-declaration certificate prior to releasing their ads.

The ministries of consumer affairs, broadcasting, and information will present the government's proposed unified mechanism to the Supreme Court this week. It is anticipated to be a component of their response to the Supreme Court's censure of the government last month for failing to record a sufficient number of complaints about companies' deceptive health claims. Having a single data centre to handle all complaints about deceptive advertisements will make handling them more effective and seamless.

“So far, three meetings have been conducted with stakeholders, and we have summarized all the suggestions. We are submitting only those that are feasible. Neither the stakeholders nor the government will need to engage repeatedly with each other to take action against any violator,” mentioned a trusted source.