LexINDIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION & ANR. versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
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[2024] 6 S.C.R. 375 : 2024 INSC 406 Indian Medical Association & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors. (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 645 of 2022) 07 May 2024 [Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, JJ.] Issue for Consideration The number of misleading advertisements that are being published/displayed with little/nil accountability on the part of the manufacturers, promoters and advertisers. Headnotes† Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements of Misleading Advertisements, 2022 – Advertisement – Misleading advertisement – Deceptive advertisement – Responsibility and duty of manufacturers, service providers, advertisers and advertising agencies: Held: Advertisers/advertising agencies and endorsers are equally responsible for issuing false and misleading advertisements – Such endorsements that are routinely made by public figures, influencers, celebrities etc. go a long way in promoting a product – It is imperative for them to act with a sense of responsibility when endorsing any product and take responsibility for the same, as reflected in Guideline No.8 of the Guidelines, 2022 that relates to advertisements that address/target or use children for various purposes and Guideline No.12 that lays down the duties of manufacturers, service providers, advertisers and advertising agencies to ensure that the trust of the consumer is not abused or exploited due to sheer lack of knowledge or inexperience – Guideline No.13 requires a due diligence to be undertaken for endorsement of advertisements and requires a person who endorses a product to have adequate information about, or experience with a specific good, product or service that is proposed to be endorsed and ensure that it must not be deceptive. [Para 21] Consumer Protection – Awareness – Food and health sector – Promote mechanism for consumer complaints: Held: All the statutory provisions/rules, regulations and guidelines have a salutary object, which is to serve the consumers and 376 [2024] 6 S.C.R. Digital Supreme Court Reports ensure that they are made aware of the kind of product that is being offered for purchase, particularly in the food and health sector – This Court is of the opinion that the concerned Ministries ought to set up and promote a mechanism which encourages the consumer to lodge a complaint and for the said complaint to be taken to its logical conclusion, instead of simply being marked/forwarded to the concerned State authority, thus leaving the consumer clueless as to the final outcome of the complaint made. [Para 22] Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 – r.7 – Constitution of India – Enforcement of the fundamental right to health – Awareness regarding quality of products – Self-declaration by the advertiser/advertising agency: Held: In the absence of any robust mechanism enacted in law to ensure that the obligations cast on the advertiser to adhere to stipulations in the Guidelines, 2022 in letter and spirit, it is deemed appropriate to invoke the powers vested in this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India for the enforcement of the fundamental right to health that encompasses the right of a consumer to be made aware of the quality of products being offered for sale by manufacturers, service providers, advertisers and advertising agencies – To fill up this vacuum, it is directed that henceforth, before an advertisement is printed/aired/displayed, a Self declaration shall be submitted by the advertiser/advertising agency on the lines contemplated in Rule 7 of the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 – No advertisements to be run on the relevant channels and/or in the print media/internet without uploading the self-declaration – The said directions to be treated as the law declared by the Supreme Court u/Art.141 of the Constitution. [Paras 23 and 24] Food, Safety and Standards Act, 2006 – Direction to file affidavit furnishing relevant data with regard to the complaints received by FSSAI: Held: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare directed to file an affidavit furnishing the relevant data with regard to the complaints received by the Food, Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) and the action taken on such complaints relating to penalty for selling food not of the nature or substance or quality demanded (Section 50), penalty for sub-standard food (Section 51), penalty for misbranded food (Section 52), penalty for misleading advertisement [2024]
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