Recent Amendments On The Consumer Protection Law In Argentina

On March 12, 2008, the Congress sanctioned Law Nº 26.361,

which amended the Consumer Protection Law Nº 24.240 (from now

on "CPL") (sanctioned in 1993).

This new law came into force by incorporating:

National doctrine and jurisprudence

Decisions of the administrative authority

Analysis of "de facto" situations that affect

consumers rights

New practices to prevent the violation of users'

rights

Evidently, the amendment to the Consumer Protection Law Nº

24.240 had a clear objective: the update of the terms of said Law

and adapting to the new social, economic and legal realities,

offering a wider and more effective protection of the social and

constitutional rights of the consumers.

It is worth mentioning that the Foreign Banks' Association,

most commercial chambers, the Industrial Union of Argentina and

most communication companies (cable and phone companies) exerted a

large amount of pressure to prevent this amendment. Although they

managed to delay approval of Law Nº 26.361, they weren't

able to stop it.

The participation and protection of users' rights is broader

under the new law, which foresees greater sanctions in the

administrative stage for those suppliers who infringe consumer

rights as well as more disputes between suppliers and

consumers.

In respect to advertising, this new law does not have specific

regulations against deceitful or unlawful advertisement and it has

not considered the responsibility of actors, models or other

"popular" figures when endorse goods or services

misleading the consumers. Some consumer associations wanted to

prevent these situations and insisted on including specific

regulations regarding false endorsement of goods or services.

Notwithstanding, the new law does not include the provisions on

same.

Detailed below are the main aspects of the referred amendment,

namely:

Including corporations under the protection of the Consumer

Protection Law

Article 1 of Law Nº 26.361 states a new and wider

definition of "consumer," including corporations

as objects of protection when they act as final consumers. This

legal protection does not apply when the company acts within the

framework of its activity or expertise.

It is important to point out that said protection was already

granted by national courts. In a recent case law named

"Artemis Construcciones S.A. vs. Diyon S.A.", the

Commercial Courts of Appeal decided to apply the Consumer

Protection Law Nº 24.240 to a construction company perk. The

plaintiff ?Artemis-...