Consumer Defense Code

The Consumer Defense Code (CDC) of Brazil, english for "Código de Defesa do Consumidor", enacted by former president Fernando Collor, on September 11, 1990 as Federal Law No. 8.078, establishes comprehensive norms for consumer protection. It characterizes consumer rights as issues of public order and social interest, ensuring that products and services offered in the market do not pose risks to consumers’ health or safety. The Code provides a detailed regime of sanctions and administrative infractions for suppliers who violate its provisions, as well as procedural rules for both administrative and judicial enforcement of consumer rights. In line with the principle of lex specialis, the Code takes precedence over the Civil Code in matters of consumer relations. Before this law, consumer rights in Brazil were scattered across isolated statutes.

Brief history

The Brazilian Consumer Defense Code emerged from the broader democratization process, when the 1988 Federal Constitution elevated the consumer protection to a fundamental right, mandating in Article 5, section XXXII:

Art. 5th All are equal before the law, without distinction of any nature, guaranteeing Brazilians and foreigners residing in the country the inviolability of the right to life, liberty, equality, security and property, under the following terms:

[...]

XXXII - the State shall promote, in accordance with the law, consumer protection;

In the years that followed its enact, successive administrations have reinforced the Consumer Protection Code with fresh decrees and regulations, keeping it up to date despite the need for continual additions to address the swift pace of technological change. At its inception, many everyday concepts were unheard of in Brazil: there was no internet or fiber-optic broadband, mobile phones were a novelty, and digital platforms like fintechs, healthtechs, e-commerce sites, and online marketplaces simply didn’t exist. Electronic fuel injection was cutting-edge, electric vehicles belonged in science fiction, and terms such as smartphones, payroll-deduction loans, or streaming services were outside most people’s vocabulary. Today, the Code is again evolving to cover emerging issues like data privacy, artificial intelligence, and the gig economy - showing that consumer protection remains a dynamic, forward-looking field.

Throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, the CDC’s legal mandates sparked a profound transformation in the market. Manufacturers overhauled quality-control processes, retailers and service providers revamped customer-service standards, and regulatory bodies like PROCON gained real enforcement power. As a result, Brazilian consumers began to enjoy higher product safety, more transparent contracts, and faster dispute resolution-shifting the balance of power toward end users and setting the stage for today’s ongoing dialogue about digital rights, data privacy, and new business models.

Definitions

The most important definitions are all set out in Articles 2nd and 3rd of the code.

What is considered a consumer?

Art. 2nd Consumer is any natural or legal person who acquires or uses a product or service as the final recipient. Sole paragraph. The collective of people, even if undetermined, who have intervened in consumer relations is considered a consumer.

And what about the supplier?

Art. 3rd Supplier is any natural or legal person, public or private, national or foreign, as well as depersonalized entities, that develop activities of production, assembly, creation, construction, transformation, import, export, distribution or commercialization of products or provision of services.

Okay, and a product or a service?

§ 1st Product is any good, movable or immovable, material or immaterial. § 2nd Service is any activity provided in the consumer market, for remuneration, including those of a banking, financial, credit and security nature, except those arising from labor relations.

Basic Rights

Brazilian consumers are safeguarded by a set of fundamental rights enshrined in the Article 6th of the CDC, which aim to balance the consumer-business relationship and ensure dignified treatment at every stage of purchasing and using products and services:

Art. 6th The basic rights of the consumer are:

I - the protection of life, health and safety against risks caused by practices in the supply of products and services considered dangerous or harmful;

II - the education and dissemination on the appropriate consumption of products and services, ensuring freedom of choice and equality in hiring;

III - the adequate and clear information about the different products and services, with correct specification of quantity, characteristics, composition, quality, applicable taxes and price, as well as the risks they present;

IV - the protection against misleading and abusive advertising, coercive or unfair commercial methods, as well as against abusive or imposed practices and clauses in the provision of products and services;

V - the modification of contractual clauses that establish disproportionate payments or their review due to supervening facts that make them excessively onerous;

VI - the effective prevention and repair of individual, collective and diffuse patrimonial and moral damages;

VII - the access to judicial and administrative bodies with a view to preventing or repairing patrimonial and moral damages, whether individual, collective or diffuse, ensuring legal, administrative and technical protection to those in need;

VIII - facilitating the defense of their rights, including the reversal of the burden of proof in their favor in civil proceedings, when, at the judge's discretion, the allegation is plausible or when they are at a disadvantage, according to the ordinary rules of experience;

XI - (Vetoed);

X - the adequate and effective provision of public services in general;

XI - the guarantee of responsible credit practices, financial education and prevention and treatment of over-indebtedness situations, preserving the existential minimum, in accordance with the regulations, through the review and renegotiation of debt, among other measures;

XII - the preservation of the existential minimum, in accordance with the regulations, in the renegotiation of debts and in the granting of credit;

XIII - the information about the prices of products per unit of measurement, such as per kilo, per liter, per meter or per other unit, as applicable.

Last but not least, the next article establishes that the rights it provides are not exhaustive, allowing for other legal guarantees from various national and international regulatory sources. This openness reinforces the principle of maximum consumer protection, preventing gaps in the law from being interpreted to the detriment of the rights of users of goods and services, as brought on the Article 7th:

Art. 7th The rights provided for in this code do not exclude others arising from international treaties or conventions to which Brazil is a signatory, from ordinary domestic legislation, from regulations issued by competent administrative authorities, as well as those derived from general principles of law, analogy, customs and equity.

Legal Warranty

In Brazil, the warranty periods established by the consumer code are directly related to the type of product or service purchased and the nature of the defect presented. Article 26 of the CDC states that consumers have the right to complain about apparent or easily detectable defects within 30 days for non-durable goods and services, such as food, cosmetics, or cleaning products, which are consumed by its nature. For durable goods and services like appliances, vehicles, or furniture, for example, the period is 90 days. These deadlines begin from the actual delivery of the product or the completion of the service.

Art. 26. The right to complain about apparent or easily detectable defects expires in:

I - thirty days, in the case of provision of services and non-durable products;

II - ninety days, in the case of provision of services and durable products.

Additionally, once a formal complaint is made to the supplier, the deadline is suspended until a clear and definitive response is provided. This suspension ensures that the consumer is not penalized by delays in the analysis or resolution of the issue:

§ 1st The counting of the limitation period begins from the effective delivery of the product or the completion of the execution of the services.

§ 2nd The following prevent forfeiture:

I - the complaint demonstrably made by the consumer to the supplier of products and services until the corresponding negative response, which must be transmitted unequivocally;

II - (Vetoed);

III - the initiation of a civil inquiry, until its conclusion.

It’s important to note that these deadlines refer to the so-called legal warranty, which exists regardless of any contract or additional terms. Even if the supplier offers a contractual or extended warranty, the legal warranty remains valid and mandatory. Once the legal period expires without any action from the consumer, the right to claim for the defect is lost, except in exceptional cases provided by law. However, when the defect is hidden, that is, not immediately noticeable, the period begins when the defect becomes evident to the consumer:

§ 3rd In the case of a hidden defect, the limitation period begins at the moment the defect becomes evident.

The warranty against hidden defects is one of the most important consumer protection tools, as it acknowledges that not all problems in a product or service are perceptible at the time of purchase. Unlike apparent defects, which can be identified shortly after use, hidden defects only manifest over time - such as structural failures in vehicles, issues in heating systems that emerge only in winter, or malfunctions in electronics that arise after continuous use.