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Proposed
Changes To Consumer Law Would Allow
Collective Action
The proposed changes to Ley No.7472 de
Promoción de la Competencia y Defensa
Efectiva del Consumidor by the Ministerio de
Economía, Industria y Comercio (MEIC) is
still in the early stages of the legislative
process, but promises to provide consumers
more protection against unscrupulous vendors
and retailers.
One of the proposed changes we reported
yesterday is the ability for consumers to
demand a replacement of a defective consumer
good to the current policy of only requiring
the vendor to repair it.
Ticos Complain Of Cellular Phones, Vehicles
and Appliances
The other major change proposed is allowing
a collective action suit. Currently all
complaints against a retailer have to filed
and dealt with on an individual basis.
Cinthya Zapata, director of the Comisión
Nacional del Consumidor, the change would
include the possibility of a collective
action which is now not possible.
"This would give the government the tools to
take judicial action on behalf of consumers
in a collective manner", said Zapata.
The director added that in most cases a
single complaint by an individual does not
generate any result for the consumer, rather
costs such as legal fees, process costs and
time.
Zapata said that the collective action
provisions also applies to public services,
allowing the MEIC and the Autoridad
Reguladora de Servicios Públicos (Aresep) to
file collective actions.
In the cases of public services, like
utilities, collecting a few colones extra on
one bill is not significant to one customer,
but adds up when the extra charges is
applied to tens of thousands and more
customers.
Currently, each of the thousands would have
to file an individual claim to collect on
the few colones, which is not practical.
Ley 7472 was delivered to the ministro de la
Presidencia, Rodrigo Arias, on Monday and
now has to be studied by Casa Presidencial
before it is sent to the Asamblea
Legislativa (Legislativ Assembly) to be
debated by legislators before it can be
enacted.
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