Consumer Legal Forum of Bangladesh A Comparative Study with India and Pakistan

Abstract

For the growth of national and international trade, protecting consumers' rights is a significant and vital responsibility of the State. India and Pakistan are aware of their consumers' rights. They have amended or enacted laws and incorporated provisions to save the rights of the consumers. They have also established Corporate Legal Forum under their consumer protection Acts. These forums are highly active. On the other hand, Bangladesh is slightly behind in this regard. It has only one statute, Consumer Protection Act (CPA)2009. However, Bangladesh has never amended this law to fight against new trends of infringement of consumers' rights. In comparison, India and Pakistan have modified their laws regularly. Under CPA 2009, Courts are empowered in Bangladesh to give aggrieved consumers remedies. However, they are not active for various reasons, and it seems very tough to protect consumers' rights without any dedicated Corporate Legal Forum. There is no corporate legal forum that deals with consumer disputes. Also, there is no safeguard for digital marketing and e-commerce. Agencies and authorities lack human resources. To establish consumer rights in Bangladesh, the government must eradicate these hindrances. This article finds some loopholes in recent forums and suggests the best forum to establish consumer rights in Bangladesh by discussing the corporate legal forum of India and Pakistan.