Essential Commodities Act (ECA), 1955

Why in News?

The Centre invoked the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 to issue the Natural Gas (Supply Regulation) Order, 2026, prioritising natural gas distribution to essential sectors amid fuel supply disruptions caused by the West Asian crisis and closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

About Essential Commodities Act (ECA), 1955

• Objective: To control the production, supply, distribution, and trade of essential commodities in the interest of the general public.
• It empowers the government to step in and regulate commodities whenever their supply is threatened by hoarding or black marketing.
• Commodities covered under the Act include cattle fodder, coal, Petroleum and its products, foodstuffs, drugs, iron & steel, raw cotton, raw jute, and automobile components, among others.
• The government can also fix minimum support prices of any packaged product designated as essential under the Act.
• During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, face masks and hand sanitisers were temporarily brought under the Act's ambit - and removed once the crisis eased.
• The landmark 2020 Amendment delisted key agricultural commodities - cereals, pulses, onions, potatoes, and edible oils — allowing regulation only under extraordinary circumstances such as war, famine, extraordinary price rise, or a natural calamity.
• Even then, the bar is high: intervention is permitted only if retail prices of horticultural produce rise by 100% or non-perishable agricultural items rise by 50%.
• Note- These restrictions do not apply to stocks maintained for domestic public distribution.

Source- IE