Unfair Trade Practices

Unfair Trade Practices – Hoarding, destruction or refusal to sell. The Unfair Trade practices include cases of hoarding, destruction of or refusal to sell, goods or services. Clause (5) says that a practice will be unfair if it permits the hoarding or destruction of goods, or refusal to sell the goods or to provide any services if such conduct is intended to raise or has the effect of raising the cost of those or other similar goods or services. Loss or damage: It is not necessary for restraining an unfair trade practices that the complainant should have suffered some loss, damage or prejudice.Such consequences can be compensated in addition to the cease and desist order. 1>Hoarding: Hoarding is a moral term meaning taking more than one's fair share of goods. Hoarding of goods with an intention to raise cost is considered as unfair trade practice as the consumer has to pay extra to buy the goods or services. Hoarding was a prevalent practice where traders and middlemen used to hoard essential goods and wait for their prices to peak. Once that is done they used to make huge profits by selling it at high prices.As soon as the traders get a heads up that the production of a particular good has been short they used to hoard it. Recently when there was a shortage of Sugar and Onion production a lot of traders hoarded the goods and made things worse for the common man by further increasing the prices. Other examples of Hoarding are seen in speculative buying of property and goods. This tends to drive up the price of property and goods costing the public more money for the basic necessities of life and lowering slightly the quality of their lives by denying them the satisfaction of finding affordable deals they can buy.Hoarding is also prevalent in the IT industry, for e. g. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) created the Internet domain name system. So domain names were once freely available to buy on the internet from domain name r egistrars. But savvy business investors saw this opportunity to buy these inexpensive domain names in bulk. So, it is not uncommon to find investors holding ten thousand domain names. More commonly people own a hundred to five hundred names. Because of this the cost of domain names has increased. ; Destruction of goods and services. Destroy or cause destruction of goods in order to reduce supply to be less than demand is also an unfair trade practice according to the MRTP Act 1969. Business operators are also prohibited from performing any unfair act which results in â€Å"the destruction, damage, obstruction, hindrance or restriction of the operation of other business operator in order to prevent other business operator from operating business or to cause him to dissolve his business†.For e. g. there was a case where one famous soft drink manufacturer used to indulge in collecting its competitor’s empty bottle from shops and retail stores and destroy them in order to cause loss and disruption in the supply of the competitor’s product to the consumers. 3; Refusal to sell goods and services. Refusal to supply goods to a genuine customer with the right consideration with an intention to raise cost also falls under the MRTP Act.It is well-known that many of the traders having advance information, or on speculation regarding the rise in the price of different goods, in order to avail the increase in the price, withhold the supply of different goods or articles to the consumers. In this process they cause loss or damage to consumers by making them to pay the excess price which they would not have been compelled to pay, if the goods or articles had been supplied in time. General Case studies on Unfair Trade Practices Case 1: Misleading Advertisements M/s. Cox & Kings (I) Pvt. Ltd. v. Joseph A.Fernandes, I (2006) CPJ 129 (NC), (RP No. 366/2005, decided on 20-12-2005). In a case where Mr. and Mrs. Fernandes had booked a tour from Bangalore to Sing apore-Malaysia and back with the Company, Cox & Kings. Tour from Singapore to Malaysia and back by cruise handled by Star Cruise Services for which the couple had been charged as â€Å"For Two nights/three days cruise†. The Star cruises confirmation voucher given to the couple, however, mentioned the embarkation and disembarkation timings as â€Å"Leave Singapore at 23. 59 hours on 17. 04. 2002 and arrive at Singapore on 19. 4. 2002. † The complainants submitted that according to the timings given by Cox & Kings, the cruise was only for two nights and one and a half days whereas it was advertised as 2 nights/3 days cruise. Cox & Kings knew very well that the cruise actually lasts only for one and a half days but they had falsely advertised that it was for 3 days. Cox and Kings Pvt. Ltd. deliberately timed the departure of the cruise at 11. 59 pm i. e. one minute short of midnight and counted that one minute as one full day. This was nothing short of outright cheating b y the Company.The claim of the Cox & Kings that issuance of such advertisement is a universal practice compelled the Commission to condemn the practice even in stronger terms. It was held that, this practice by them was not only a case of misrepresentation through misleading advertisement but also an unfair trade practice in the eyes of Consumer Protection Act and the Commission directed Cox & Kings to pay Rs. 25,000/- as compensation and ordered not to publish such misleading advertisement. Observations: This is a case of misrepresentation through misleading advertisement.The company advertised that it was a 3 days and 2 nights tour but it turned out to be a 2 nights and 1 and half day tour. The company had to pay compensation as it had given wrong information to its customers. Case 2: Delay in delivering the product. Tata Engineering Locomotive Co. Ltd. v. John Jacob, II (2006) CPJ 105 (NC), (RP No. 1079 of 1998, decided on 4-4-2006). The Complainant booked a TATA Sumo by paying a n advance and paid the entire consideration after being informed that the vehicle was ready for delivery within a particular time. The delivery of the vehicle was delayed for another three months and the company collected Rs. 8,344/- on the ground that there was hike in the excise duty. The Complainant Jacob collected the vehicle under protest and gave a notice to the Company which was not replied to. It was seen that without any justifiable reason the Company had recovered excise duty and litigated for years together regarding the same. The Company could not disclose when the vehicle was released from the factory. TELCO could not bring in the evidence as to whether they actually paid Rs. 38,344/- on this vehicle or whether it was really released from the factory before Tariff Amendment Act came into force.National Commission issued a direction to TELCO to discontinue such unfair trade practice and not repeat the same in future and directed the dealer also to be warned of the same. The amount was refunded with 12% rate of interest from 30. 09. 1996 till the date of payment and also an amount of Rs. 25,000/- was awarded as costs. Observations: Telco not only delivered the product 3 months after the promised date they also increased the price of the product on the grounds of hike in the exercise duty. The customer had to pay extra for no fault of his. This would also come under unfair trade practices.

Annotated Bibliography the relationship between online games and it players

Annotated Bibliography the relationship between online games and it players Ahn, Jae-hyeon and Park, Bong-won. 2008. â€Å"Imposing Tax and Rebate Policy for Game Addiction Problem.† Paper presented at the annual International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, July 20-24, Athens, Greece. This article introduces the relationship between online games and its players, and attempts to explain the possible social problems online gaming has caused among some players. Ahn and Park address the problem of gaming addiction and its effects on society as a whole. They investigate interested parties of online gaming to create a base model to help explain the increase or decrease of the participants over time with consideration to the positive/negative images of the activity. In addition to their investigative studies, Ahn and Park also propose a possible solution to the game addiction problems. They suggest implementing a tax and rebate policy which they believe will better the social image of online gaming while simultaneously decreasing the number of g ame addicts. This paper is an especially interesting source as it provides contrasting views on the advancement of technology (in regards to online gaming) compared to other sources, and proffers a most curious solution to the gaming addiction dilemma. This article was found through Google with the keywords: â€Å"Korea† and â€Å"game addiction.† Borries, Friedrich von, Matthias Bottger, and Steffen P. Walz. 2007. Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism : The Next Level. Berlin: Burkhauser Verlag AG. The authors illustrate how the revolution of the computer and video gaming age are changing the lives of people today. The authors have compiled a great selection of writings regarding the process of altering our perception of reality and virtuality. There are several selections articulating issues related to game players’ ability to discern real and imaginary spaces, such as â€Å"Creating Alternate Realities† and â€Å"Life is Not a Gam e.† These writings will help to support my thesis that online gaming and technology diffusion has indeed impacted society’s male youths. Another crucial aspect this book covers is found in the â€Å"Competing Metagame Space,† where the chapter specifically communicates the seriousness of online gaming, namely Starcraft, in Korea. This book was found through the Gleeson Library online catalog when I searched the keywords: â€Å"Korea† and â€Å"online gaming.† Ess, Charles and Fay Sudweeks. 2001. Culture, Technology, Communication. Albany: State University of New York. Focusing on theoretical approaches and case studies, the authors of this book offer insightful perspectives on the ideas of culture, communication, and technology as it discusses cultural values and technological communication of today’s modern society. The authors have gathered sources from diverse cultural domains to investigate the relation between cultural values and communi cative preferences with respect to genders. This book is another compilation of analytical essays that examine how technology diffusion has affected local cultures. In the chapter, â€Å"Culture, Computer Literacy, and Media,† the study focuses on the statistics of Korean computer users and how the media influences people to utilize it to its utmost extent. This chapter entertains a possible idea why people in Korea are heavily absorbed in computer usage. This book was found through the Gleeson Library online catalog when I searched the keywords: â€Å"Korea,† â€Å"technology,† and â€Å"culture.†

Assessment of The Economic Climate in Britain, Pertaining to Starting Essay

Assessment of The Economic Climate in Britain, Pertaining to Starting up a New Business - Essay Example ntinue pumping money in economic condition, the year (2012) closing with triple dip recession alarm with industrial production dropped by 9.8% as compared to 2011 and highest decline in 20 years (Elliot, 2012), results in imposing negative pressure on the business start ups as it seems difficult to reap considerable profits in this economic condition. On the other hand the positive signals such as growth forecast to remain 0.9% in contrast to -0.1% in 2012 and the UK job hiring pick-up (Murray, 2013), encourage the entrepreneurs to establish their own business set up as there are growth chances. Year 2013 gives mixed signals of growth such as reports of further decline in industrial production in 2013 while on the other hand, February 2013 reported permanent job hiring increased for four consecutive months in January 2013’ anticipating growth of almost 0.7% for 2013 (Murray, 2013). The decrease in the industrial production impose risk on the start up of a new venture as it ref lects decrease in the supply of products and hence increase in inflation. On the other hand the growth in the employment rate is beneficial for the start up businesses as it signals more consumption on the part of the individuals. Mixed signals despite consistent efforts traces trend mainly from triple dip recession due to deepened Euro-Zone crises and increased inflation curtailing consumer demand (Elliot, 2012). Ranking of UK on Doing Business chart developed by World Bank has improved from 8th positions in 2012 to 7th position in 2013 (World Bank, 2013; Schwab, 2012). This improvement is based on the factors assessing ease of doing business; therefore, self refers that ease has been increased in order to encourage investors to initiate business and gear up economic activity. Moreover, these... This essay aims to identify the impact of economic risks on the state of business environment of UK. It is being considered in the essay, that doing business in UK carry greater risk than ever. Despite consistent efforts the weak performance of UK economy is still creating greater uncertainty for the people who are interested in starting their own business venture. For instance, negative signals such as UK to borrow much higher in 2012-13 as compared to previous year with almost public sector job cuts reaching 1.2 million and further 2.7 million by 2018 Still, The UK conditions where unemployment has not been as high as expected, austerity plans of government stuck and jobs being created (though in slow pace) are all dampening recovery of economy as well as local demand. Conversely the stimulus is positive from external demand. Increase in the local and external demand results in providing the new start up businesses with better operating environment leading to rise in the overall profits and returns. Therefore, it can be stated the conditions to do business are much better for concerns intend to capitalise on this increasing demand. Ranking of UK on Doing Business chart developed by World Bank has improved from 8 positions in 2012 to 7 position in 2013. This improvement is based on the factors assessing ease of doing business. The ease has been increased in order to encourage investors to initiate business and gear up economic activity. Moreover, these positive factors are also reflecting acceptance in the financial market.

The Future of Nursing, Leading Change, Advancing Health Essay

The Future of Nursing, Leading Change, Advancing Health - Essay Example Nursing as a healthcare profession is  highly  dynamic. This paper will discuss the impact that the 2010 IOM report had on the future of nursing, leading change and advancing health (Fitzpatrick, 2010). The 2010 IOM report  was formulated  by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) which is an interdisciplinary advisory  authority  that addresses matters pertaining to the health of the nation. This  body  was established  in 1970 by a charter of the National Academy of Sciences. The body serves a broad  spectrum  of stakeholders who  include  health professionals, the private sector, policy makers and the  public. In 2008, IOM in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) came up with a policy document that suggested various changes to the nursing profession. This report suggested the broadest overhaul in healthcare  provision  since 1965. This report opened with four  main  messages and closed with recommendations most of which  will b e discussed  in the subsequent sections of the paper (WHO, 2010). Key messages of the report The report dubbed â€Å"The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health† contained four key messages.  These included: 1. The nurses’  practice  should be to the full extent of their training and education. 2. They should  attain  higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes  flawless  academic  succession 3. Nurses should fully partner with physicians and other healthcare practitioners, in  re scheming  U.S. healthcare services. 4. Effectual  personnel  planning and policy making necessitate enhanced data  compilation  and an improved information infrastructure Key Message 1 This  message  that proposed that nurses should practice to the full extent of their training had two crucial subcategories. The first subcategory addresses the  scope  of the nurses’ practice while the secon d discusses their residency program. Subcategory 1: Scope of Practice Neuroscience nurses must be able to carry out their duties to the  fullness  of their training and education training despite their posting whether bedside nurses or advanced practitioners in the community (IOM, 2010).  For this cause, the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN)  tactical  plan commissioned a task force to  revise  its 2002 scope and standards  article. There is a need to  incorporate  the  extent  of  practice  for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) with those of bedside nurses to enhance the  brilliance  in the neurosciences (IOM, 2010). Subcategory 2: Nurses’ residency Programs This subcategory addresses  matters  pertaining to nurses’ transition from school to  real  practice. At this time, there is a  requirement  to put into practice a multilevel residency curriculum to  supervise  admission  into neuroscienc e nursing and throughout transitions to ranks of greater oversight (IOM, 2010). Key Message 2 The  second  main  message  of the IOM Future of Nursing  report  proposed that nurses should  attain  higher levels of education and training via an enhanced  educational  curriculum that endorses seamless academic  progression  (IOM, 2010). As an  ongoing  education  contributor, AANN encourages the  training  of neuroscience nurses. It is also  crucial  that AANN reflect on supporting options comprising

Business Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Business Portfolio - Essay Example The essay "Business Portfolio" discusses the business concept of Herbal Medicine as an independent business which offers massage therapy and also sells homemade herbal products. To work as a massage therapist in a well-known spa clinic (as a part-time employee). I am particularly interested in specializing in Aromatherapy massage, hot stone massage, yoga and Pregnancy Massage. My current engagement in the Spa as a massage therapist would help me to gain the essential evidence to run my business successfully later on. To take up the job of a freelance massage therapist in my free time in local health spas in my region. This would enrich my experience and also provide me the much required financial support. To save a proportion of the income earned from these engagements and invest the saving to make a set up in my house for starting my business as an Herbal Medicine practitioner. To furnish the three rooms on the ground floor of my house and set them up as the massage center and the r etiring room. I have already been trading in homemade products from my place, which implies that my place has already gained popularity in the locality. I have a good customer base. Besides, there is no specialist herbal medicine therapist practicing in the locality. To make massage therapy accessible to the target market, such as, obese people, pregnant women, and women with the gynecological disorder, through routine massage schedules and also by conducting special workshops for people that belong to the lower income class. I also intend to provide service in the workshops delivered by the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) in London and its outskirts. I do not intend to limit my practice to some particular clients. However, I desire to put special attention on women and children, since I have found out through thorough research that there is a gap in the market in terms of facilities available to the female population in the low income group. Therefore, these areas have caught my sp ecial interest and the in-class discussion has

Case study analysis (report) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Case study analysis (report) - Essay Example However, the case is surrounded with so many challenges because today’s retailing world is vastly covered by competition. The future will be reshaped by the emerging trends where it illustrates on what the business is experiencing today will surely be changed when tomorrow comes. This is the reason why critical knowledge about fast changing trends must be integrated into the retail strategy to drive opportunities. The business must plan ahead of time before it will lose its competitive advantage. The main thrust of this paper is to analyze the different positions of Simon and Smith in their store’s direction as well as the alternatives that would help in looking for potential changes and opportunities. Simon and Smith had different views in terms of directing their store in order to stay ahead of the competition. Simon seemed to be satisfied with the current performance of the business. Furthermore, he said that as long as they will be using the same retailing strategy for the coming years, the business will remain to be at the top of the competition. He was not in favor on the idea of attracting young customers for the reason that both of them did not have enough knowledge on the nature of the new segment and it might drive away their loyal customers. On the other hand, Smith was less satisfied compared to Simon because he was worried on the foreseen intense competition. He wanted to change the retailing concept and the growth strategy of the business to be more prepared when competition arrived. He presented potential changes in the customer base of the business and discussed important opportunities to develop sustainable competitive advantage. The opportunity was on how to attr act younger customers as the new target audience. Instead of putting all efforts on customers whose profile ranges from 35 to 50, the business will now shift to a larger audience which is the young generation. â€Å"The retail sector is one of the most competitive in the business

Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 93

Essay Example Knowing that everything happens for a reason, not necessarily something we would know at present or even in a lifetime, but just going back to who God is, would give us enough hope & strength to take a significant step of faith each day and eventually allow us to create significance in other people’s lives (Rick Warren: A life of purpose, n.d.). Another inspiring video on leadership would be Stanley McChrystal’s â€Å"Listen, learn, then lead† video. As a military man, he has learned what it is like to go through loss, disappointment, & fear. Just like the reality of life, we may never be far from challenges that create a noise that will make us give up or resent life. However, only in listening in times of doubt will enable one to learn the lessons that are only brought about by pain, and only in experiencing not only joy but also pain will enable one to sympathize and comfort others and lead them to an understanding of the possibility of failure and develop the right attitude to stand up once again. Also, this video reminds me of the saying, â€Å"experience is the best teacher,† where though most of the time we deem painful experiences unnecessary, those are the most effective teachers of wisdom we can apply in every season of our lives & eventually lead others to do the same (Stanley McChrystal: Lis ten, learn ... then lead,