Terms of Contractual and Legal Warranties Regulated by the LDC during Preventive and Mandatory Social Isolation Suspended

The Secretariat of Domestic Trade, which reports to the Ministry of Productive Development, enacted Resolution No. 244/2020, by which it suspended the terms for claiming those warranties regulated by the Consumer Protection Law No. 24,240 (the “LDC” after its acronym in Spanish) during the period in which the consumers were prevented from exercising their rights due to the Preventive and Mandatory Social Isolation decreed on March 19, 2020 and extended successively to the present.

The measure comprises all legal and contractual warranties of non-consumable movable goods, and those related to deficiencies in the provision of services regulated by the CPL. The legal warranty is in force for three months as from the delivery in the case of second-hand movable goods, and for six months as from delivery in all other cases, terms which may be contractually extended.

Although the CPL already considers the extension of the warranty period for different circumstances for products and services, it seems that the Resolution covers a wider range of hypothetical cases, since it refers broadly to legal and contractual warranties.

In addition, it establishes that suppliers of goods and services must broadcast the measure to all consumers in a certain, clear and detailed manner, publishing it in a visible way on the homepages of their respective websites or mobile apps, and before payment.

Finally, the Resolution states that any failure to comply with the above will be subject to the penalties prescribed in the LDC. The LDC establishes the following sanctions which may be applied, jointly or independently, according to the circumstances of each case: (i) warning; (ii) fine ranging from ARS 100 to ARS 5,000,000 (approximately USD 1.40 and USD 71,000 at the current exchange rate); (iii) confiscation of the goods and products object of the violation; (iv) closure of the premises or suspension of the service for a term not exceeding 30 days; (v) suspension for up to 5 years in the registries of the State suppliers; and (vi) the loss of concessions, privileges, tax or special credit regimes. In all cases, the text of the resolution imposing the sanction must be published in the newspaper of the jurisdiction where the violation was committed, at the offender’s expense.