Consumer codes
The constitutional dimension of consumer law is well established in Southern European countries and Latin America.[1] Countries such as Brazil, Spain, and Portugal include provisions regarding access to justice in their constitutions and have adopted general consumer laws or codes, based upon their respective constitutions.
Brazil adopted its Federal Constitution in 1988, incorporating consumer protection and access to justice as fundamental provisions.[2] The Constitution mentions, in section XXXII of Article 5, that the ‘state will promote consumer protection in the form of law’. Article 48 of the subsequent Interim Constitutional Provisions Act stipulates that the ‘Congress shall, within 120 days of enactment of the Constitution, draft a consumer protection code’. The code was adopted in 1990 and contains detailed consumer law provisions, mentioning in particular consumer policy, access to justice, the prohibition of unfair practices, and collective consumption conventions. This code amounted to a legal revolution for Brazil, because many of the new rights created had not existed previously in Brazilian case law, nor in its legal tradition. In particular, this change affected the right to access to justice,[3] with the new constitutional provisions being applied in various court cases.[4]
- [1] A. de Moraes, Direitos Humanos Fundamentals, Teoria Geral, 7th edn (Sa5 Paulo: Editora AtlasS.A., 2006), pp. 186-9; A. Benjamin, ‘Group Action and Consumer Protection in Brazil’ , in T.Bourgoignie (ed.), Group Actions and Consumer Protection (Brussels: Bruylant, 1992), pp. 140 et seq.
- [2] According to the 1988 Constitution, the Attorney General and associations as well as otherentities, can file legal action not only to protect diffuse interests or rights but also collective interests or rights of any kind (Art. 129, II, and 129, para. 1).
- [3] Benjamin, ‘Group Action and Consumer Protection in Brazil’ (n 144), pp. 140 et seq.
- [4] For more information, see de Moraes (2006), Direitos Humanos Fundamentais, Teoria Geral (n144), pp. 186-9.
