The United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection recognise consumer protection as a contributor to a fair, efficient, and ethical market. The Guidelines consider consumer trust to be a pillar of sustainable commerce and underline the value of informed choice, the safeguarding of economic interests, the existence of redressal mechanisms and ethical business behaviour. The Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023, published by the Central Consumer Protection Authority as part of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, can be viewed as a positive move towards regulation that does not view consumer protection as a constraint on innovation but as a condition for trust, efficiency, and sustainable digital development. The wide range of the GPRDP directions to platforms, advertisers, and sellers, based on the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, makes competition even. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 is prospective in nature since it provides a definition of unfair trade practices in Section 2(47).

Source: The Telegraph February 28, 2026 02:35 UTC