The Argentine Secretariat of Commerce has issued a new Resolution which compels to distinguish between the prices of goods or services paid by cash and those financed by alternative means of payment means. It also designates new entities to be responsible for the compliance of current rules on price exhibition and information.
On January 20, 2017, the Argentine Secretariat of Commerce issued Resolution No. 51-E/2017 (hereinafter, the “Resolution”), which determines that businesses commercializing goods and services using payment in installments will be forbidden from including the phrase “without interest” —or similar expressions— when the financing costs are transferred to the customers in the final sale price.
Pursuant to the Resolution, financial costs will be considered to be transferred to the customers when retailers must pay such costs to financial services’ providers, either directly or through a percentage of the sales.
The Resolution refers to the prohibition set forth in article 37 of the Credit Cards Law No. 25,065 (hereinafter, the “Credit Cards Law”), which forbids differentiating between sales paid in cash or financed through alternative means of payment, clarifying that such regulation is aimed at those transactions cancelled in a single payment.
Consequently, this new regulation forbids determining different prices for transactions cancelled in a single payment, regardless of the means of payment that may be used.
The Resolution also determines that the following entities are responsible for complying with the applicable regulations regarding exhibition and price information, in those cases in which they perform or jointly participate in the offering, promotion or advertising of products or services using payment in installment:
- banking and financial entities,
- credit, purchase or debit card issuers,
- credit, purchase or debit card management entities.
The preceding list is in addition to the list of obliged subjects under Resolution No. 7/2002 of the former Secretary of Competition, Deregulation and Consumer Defense.
The Resolution also provides guidelines to inform customers about the total financial cost of the sales transactions, as well as the way in which such costs must be calculated.
Finally, the sanctions for infringements to the provisions of the Resolution must be those determined by Commercial Loyalty Law No. 22,802 or Consumer Defense Law No. 24,240.
This insight is a brief comment on legal news in Argentina; it does not purport to be an exhaustive analysis or to provide legal advice.