The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) conducted the first meeting of its Committee for “Prevention and Regulation of Misleading Advertisements in the Coaching Sector” on 8th January and discussed a set of draft guidelines.
The Chairman of the Committee is Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs and Chief Commissioner of CCPA Rohit Kumar Singh.
Mr Singh said that protection of consumers’ interest is a paramount concern of the CCPA. He highlighted the need for clarity, specifically in addressing certain aspects related to advertisements in the coaching sector.
He said the CCPA firmly believes in safeguarding the rights of consumers and ensuring no false or misleading advertisement is made of any goods or services which contravenes provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
The guidelines shall be applicable to all coaching institutes whether online or physical and cover all forms of advertisement regardless of form, format or medium.
The guidelines prescribe conditions when an advertisement by a coaching institute shall be construed to be a misleading advertisement as defined under the Consumer Protection Act 2019 which inter-alia includes concealing important information related to the course opted by the successful candidates (whether free or paid), duration of course etc.
The guidelines provide that coaching institutes shall not make false claims regarding success rates or number of selections and any other practices that may lead to consumer misunderstanding or subvert consumer autonomy and choice.
The guidelines prescribe Do’s and Don’ts that need to be observed before coming up with advertisements. These are: Coaching Institute shall mention requisite information with successful candidate photo; Rank secured by successful candidate; Course opted by successful candidate; Duration of course; Whether it is paid or free; Coaching institutes shall not make claim 100 per cent selection or 100 per cent job guaranteed or guaranteed preliminary or mains.
The font of disclaimer/Disclosure/Important information in the advertisement shall be the same as that used in the claim/advertisement. The placement of such information shall be at a prominent and visible place in the advertisement.
It is also clarified that penalty for misleading advertisement by coaching sector will be governed as per the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the guidelines are just in the nature of clarification to the stakeholders and violations of the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019 shall continue to be governed by the Act.
The Committee observed that there is an urgent need to issue the Guidelines and the Draft as discussed in the Meeting should be issued at the earliest.
CCPA had taken suo moto action against misleading advertisements by coaching institutes. In this regard, the CCPA has issued notices to 31 coaching institutes for misleading advertisement and imposed fine on nine of them for misleading advertisement.
CCPA has observed that some of the coaching institutes mislead consumers by deliberately concealing important information with respect to the course opted by successful candidates, duration of the course so attended & the fees paid by the candidates.
CCPA observed that some of the coaching Institutes also indulge in making claims like 100 per cent selection, 100 per cent job guaranteed and guaranteed preliminary and main examination without providing verifiable evidence
Others who attended the Committee’s meeting were member-Commissioners (CCPA); and representatives from the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT); the Ministry of Education, the National Law University (NLU), Delhi; FIITJEE; Khan Global Studies and Ikigai Law and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA).