 bill no  xxiv  of  2008 the distance selling (regulation) bill, 2008 a billto provide for regulation of selling of products and services by dialing a telephonenumber advertised for the purpose in television, internet network, newspapers, magazines, hoarding, banners, posters, etc or placing orders on internet and for protection of rights of consumers against marketing of products and services through these methods and for matters connected therewith and incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the fifty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the distance selling (regulation) act, 2008(2) it extends to the whole of indiashort title, extent and commencement(3) it shall come into force with immediate effectdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "cooling period" means a fixed time given to a consumer to examine theproducts or services purchased by him through distance selling without inviting any liabilities;5(b) "distance selling" means entering into contract for purchase or purchasingof any  products or services by dialing a telephone number advertised for the purpose in television, internet network, newspapers, magazines, hoarding, posters and in similar other manners and also includes purchasing of products and services on internet;(c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act;1068 of 1986(d) words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in theconsumer protection act, 1986, shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that act153 (1) every consumer who purchases any product or opts for any service through distance selling shall have a cooling period of fifteen days from the day of receiving such product or serviceright of consumer to return the product or service, purchased through distance selling(2) the consumer shall have the right to return the product or the service to the company offering the same, within a cooling period of fifteen days, if he is not satisfied with the quality and performance of the product or service without giving any reasons for returning the product or refusing the service20(3)  the company which has offered the products or services shall refund the full amount, if any charged for the same once the product is returned or the service is refused by the consumer within the cooling periodexplanation— for the purpose of this sub-section "full amount" includes the packaging cost also but does not include the cost of returning the product25(4)  every consumer shall have the right to get a full refund of money including the delivery charges, the cost of return or the installation charges, if the products or services on purchase are found to be faulty4 (1) every company shall give full and clear information about the products and the services being offered through distance selling in such manner, as may be prescribed30(2) any condition, agreement or contract whatsoever, shall  not be enforceable by the company unless it gives the required information to the consumer, prior to purchase of the product or servicescompanies to give full information of product offered for distance selling punishment355  whoever contravenes the provisions of this act and the rules made thereundershall be punishable with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to one years or with fine, which may extend to ten lakh rupees or with bothcontravention by a company406  where a person committing a contravention of any of the provisions of this act orof any rule, made thereunder is a company, every person who, at the time the contravention was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of business of the company as well as the company, shall be guilty of the contravention and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:provided that nothing contained in this section shall render any such person liable topunishment, if he proves that the contravention took place without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent such contraventionexplanation— for the purpose of this section:—45(i) "company" means anybody corporate and include a firm or other association of individuals; and(ii) "director", in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firmsummary trial of offences2 of 19747  all offences under this act shall be tried summarily in the manner prescribed forsummary trial under the code of criminal procedure of 1973power to remove difficulty58  if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the central government may, by order published in the official gazette, make such provisions, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as appear to it to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty:provided that no such orders shall be made after the expiry of the period of three years from the date of commencement of this act9  the provisions of this act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of theprovisions in any other law, for the time being in force, relating to distance selling10overriding effect of the actpower tomake rules10  the central government may by notification in the official gazette make rules forcarrying out the purposes of this act statement  of  objects  and  reasonswith the passage of time and upgradation in technology, the concept of buying goods and services has undergone a tremendous change people are buying various goods without even having virtually seen or felt them the technology has also shrink the world as the goods manufactured, anywhere in the globe, are available to a person just by making a telephone call the manufacturer of various goods are just flashing out their telephone numbers in television, newspapers, magazines, hoarding, posters, etc for the purpose of inviting customers to purchase their goods and services besides this, there are many portals which are selling goods and services through internet, wherein a person just have to place an order with a view to purchase any goods or services in view of the fact that the person who is buying goods or services through this distance selling does not get any chance of a face to face contact with the person selling the goods and the opportunity to feel or examine it, hence there are chances that he may fall into a false trap many cases have been reported of this nature where the goods and services purchased by an individual do not match in quality and appearance with those displayed on  television, magazines, hoarding, etc in such cases, if the customer wants to return those goods or services, the supplier would not oblige him and he has no legal backing to do so many countries have enacted laws on distance selling in order to protect the rights of the customers as of now, there is no law on distance selling in our country with a view to protect the rights of the customers opting for distance selling in our country, there is an urgent need to have such a law the bill, accordingly, provides for the rights of the customer to return the goods or services purchased through distance selling within the cooling period of fifteen days without inviting any liabilities and imposing duties on the companies to provide full, fair and complete information to the customer while selling goods and services through distance sellinghence this billmahendra mohan memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 10 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill the rules will relate to matters of details only as such the delegation of legislative power is of normal character rajya  sabha a billto provide for regulation of selling of products and services by dialing a telephone numberadvertised for the purpose in television, internet network, newspapers, magazines, hoarding, banners, posters, etc or placing orders on internet and for protection of rights of consumers against marketing of products and services through these methods and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto(shri mahendra mohan, mp)gmgipmrnd—4750rs(s-1)—29-12-2008