CPA 2019 Section 86: Liability of product sellers

Consumer Protection Act, 2019 · Chapter 6: PRODUCT LIABILITY

86. Liability of product sellers.—A product seller who is not a product manufacturer shall be liable in a product liability action, if—
(a) he has exercised substantial control over the designing, testing, manufacturing, packaging or labelling of a product that caused harm; or
(b) he has altered or modified the product and such alteration or modification was the substantial factor in causing the harm; or
(c) he has made an express warranty of a product independent of any express warranty made by a manufacturer and such product failed to conform to the express warranty made by the product seller which caused the harm; or
(d) the product has been sold by him and the identity of product manufacturer of such product is not known, or if known, the service of notice or process or warrant cannot be effected on him or he is not subject to the law which is in force in India or the order, if any, passed or to be passed cannot be enforced against him; or
(e) he failed to exercise reasonable care in assembling, inspecting or maintaining such product or he did not pass on the warnings or instructions of the product manufacturer regarding the dangers involved or proper usage of the product while selling such product and such failure was the proximate cause of the harm.

Study: explanations and related material

Official reference: India Code, Government of India — edition as on 1 September 2026 — source review: 2 October 2026.Recorded edition / snapshot date: 2026-09-01.Banaka reference transcription, not an official or certified edition. Amendment brackets are retained; footnotes and superscript references are excluded. Consult the government PDF for authoritative wording and amendment notes. This Act is not a consolidation of subordinate rules: the 2021 jurisdiction rules prescribe different ordinary complaint thresholds from the printed Act figures in sections 34, 47 and 58. Hindi guides are original explanations, not statutory translations. The notified 2026 e-commerce amendments commence on 1 January 2027, not on notification.

This text is for reference, not legal advice. Consult the official source for the authoritative text.

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