Two-year guarantees and regulation of e-commerce: the changes that the Government is preparing in the Consumer Protection Law

Through a resolution signed this week, the Ministry of Commerce launched the process to modify the current Consumer Defense Law and advance the sanction of a code that legislates and regulates the different modalities of commerce in a clear way and that guarantee market freedom and the protection of consumer rights. A Commission to Reform Law 24,240 will work over the next few months, hand in hand with an advisory council of experts, to agree on a draft code and send it to Congress closer to the end of the year. As the current legislation is 30 years old, and there have been countless changes in the way of buying and selling, the objective is to update it, incorporating electronic commerce and through social networks, the collaborative economy and artificial intelligence applied to consumption, for example. example. The intention is to copy the code model that Brazil has had for three decades.

The current administration, led by Pablo Lavigne as secretary and Fernando Blanco Muiño as head of the undersecretary of actions for Consumer Defense, will work, together with the brand new commission, on the basis of a base text created during Mauricio Macri’s administration. , when both were also officials. What are the most important changes that the new code will have?

One of the modifications promoted by the Government is the extension of the legal warranty period that all products sold in Argentina must offer. Today that time is 6 months and the objective is to extend it to two years, confided an official source. Currently, stores offer the so-called “extended warranty” with an extra charge, but starting with the new code It will be a right of the buyers be able to claim during the 24 months following the operation.

In turn, “for companies, the 50% fine payment regime will be incorporated”, which will enable a firm to abandon the process in Justice if it chooses to pay half of the amount charged. “If there has been a breach and there was no response channel from the company, the consumer makes the claim. If the firm resolves it, the issue is closed, but if not, the person can initiate the claim and an administrative instance is opened,” the source said. Consumers can make complaints to the municipal office of Consumer Defense, the provincial office or the complaint window of the Undersecretariat of Consumer Defense of the Nation. The new code will also seek to define a new role for consumer associations so that they have a more active presence in the protection of buyers’ rights, as well as greater management capacity; and advance greater control in the electrical safety of products, especially in children’s toys, official sources said.

Regarding e-commerce legislation, the objective is to equate the rights of those who contract a service or acquire a good online with those who do so through another modality. It will be required that at the different stages of electronic contracting the consumer is informed to the highest possible standard, in order to ensure that he is fully aware of his rights and obligations.

At the same time, according to the draft that was circulated again by the Commerce offices, in remote contracting, consumers will have the right to require delivery of goods or provision of services within a maximum period of 30 days from the conclusion of the contract, unless otherwise agreed between the parties. On the other hand, another article says that when the contracting of a service has been carried out by telephone or electronically, it may be terminated at the consumer’s discretion through the same means previously used. From this request, within the subsequent 24 hours, the supplier must inform the consumer about the cancellation made.

The new code will also address the issue of “reciprocity in treatment”, which indicates that companies must grant users reciprocity of treatment by applying, for refunds and returns, the same criteria that they establish for late fees. .

With respect to artificial intelligence applied to consumption, the standard must legislate around the limits to which a company can reach with this method in order to measure consumer behavior and generate, based on it, sales campaigns. artificial. Regarding reputational rating, how important it is for consumers when choosing a supplier, it is also important limit the use of artificial intelligencesaid the consulted source. In turn, the “collaborative economy” (the cases of Uber or Airbnb), being a new phenomenon, “does not have much of a legal framework, so codifying that means recognizing that the topic exists, that it has a very high social acceptance and that it must be legislated,” he added.

Finally, the new code will include a chapter on collective consumer processes, which are class actions that are not legislated in Argentina and about which many companies complain. It happens that consumer associations act in this way against a company and generate enormous prejudice. The intention of the new management is to organize this mechanism.