CCPA fines e-platforms for illegal sale of walkie-talkies

• The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has initiated suo motu action against e-commerce platforms for large-scale illegal listing and sale of walkie-talkies (Personal Mobile Radios PMRs).

• Notices were issued to 13 e-commerce entities following the identification of over 16,970 non-compliant product listings across platforms.

Regulations for sale of walkie-talkies in India

The sale, import and use of walkie-talkies in India are regulated under:

i) The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885

ii) The Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933

iii) The Use of Low Power and Very Low Power Short Range Radio Frequency Devices (Exemption from Licensing Requirement) Rules, 2018.

• Under these rules, only walkie-talkies operating strictly within the 446.0–446.2 MHz frequency band are exempted from licensing. 

• Even such licence-exempted devices must obtain Equipment Type Approval (ETA) certification before being imported or sold in India. 

• Failure to comply with these requirements also constitutes misleading advertisement, unfair trade practice and deficiency in service under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and violates the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020.

• To prevent recurrence of such violations, the CCPA has notified the Guidelines for the Prevention and Regulation of Illegal Listing and Sale of Radio Equipment including Walkie-Talkies on E-Commerce Platforms, 2025, in consultation with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Why CCPA took action?

• The CCPA found that several platforms were facilitating the sale of walkie-talkies operating on restricted and sensitive radio frequency bands, without mandatory statutory approvals or disclosures.

• It issued final orders against eight entities and imposed penalties totalling Rs 44 lakh.

• Many of these devices were found to operate in the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band, which is a regulated spectrum also used by police, emergency services, disaster response agencies and other critical communication networks. 

• Several products were wrongly advertised as “license-free” or “100 per cent legal”, even though their use requires government approval. 

• In some cases, walkie-talkies were sold as toys but had very long communication ranges of up to 30 kilometers. 

• In addition, many product listings did not clearly mention important details such as the operating frequency or whether the device had Equipment Type Approval (ETA), making it difficult for consumers to know if the product was legal to buy and use.

Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA)

• The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 was notified on August 9, 2019 and came into force on July 20, 2020. 

• It replaced the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

• Under the provisions of the Act, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) was established in July 2020. 

CCPA is empowered to:

a) Protect, promote and enforce the rights of consumers as a class, and prevent violation of consumers rights under this Act.

b) Prevent unfair trade practices and ensure that no person engages himself in unfair trade practices.

c) Ensure that no false or misleading advertisement is made of any goods or services which contravenes the provisions of this Act or the rules or regulations made thereunder.

d) Ensure that no person takes part in the publication of any advertisement which is false or misleading.

• The CCPA can make interventions when necessary to prevent consumer detriment arising from unfair trade practices and to initiate class action including enforcing recall, refund and return of products. 

• The CCPA has an investigation wing, headed by a director-general, which may conduct inquiry or investigation into consumer law violations. 

• The CCPA has been granted wide powers to take suo-moto actions, recall products, order reimbursement of the price of goods/services, cancel licenses and file class action suits, if a consumer complaint affects more than one individual.

• The power of CCPA to take class action is a unique feature of the new Act. Earlier, there was no mechanism to deal with issues of unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements which impacted consumers as a class. As a result, such practices continued unrestrained without any accountability. 

• The CCPA has powers to pass orders of discontinuation of practices that are unfair and prejudicial to consumers’ interests and impose penalties in case of false or misleading advertisements.