6.1 Structure and Function of the Nepalese Consumer Court

Nepal's consumer-redress architecture rests on the Consumer Protection Act, 2075 (2018) (the successor to the 1998 Act):1. The complaint route: consumers harmed by goods or services complain to the Departmentof Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection (and its offices) — the administrative first door: investigation, mediation-type settlement, and departmental orders (compensation, rectification).2. The court provision: the Act provides for the establishment of a dedicated consumer court/ bench (by government notification) to hear consumer disputes — with the appeal route from departmental decisions running to the courts. Where the dedicated forum has not been stood up across the country, the ordinary courts (and the departmental machinery) carry the docket — the design-versus-deployment gap to state honestly.3. The bench-level practice: district-court level consumer benches as the judicial face of the framework.Structure (the statutory design): | Layer | Organ | Function | |---|---|---| | First door | Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection | Complaints, inspection, settlement, orders | | Specialized forum | Consumer court/bench (as provided by the Act) | Consumer disputes' adjudication | | Appeal | Appellate route under the Act | Review of orders | | Parallel | Ordinary courts | Criminal prosecutions; writ jurisdiction |