Colombia’s Senate passed the consumer statute, which attempts to improve consumer-producer relations, in its final debate, financial publication Portafolio reported Wednesday.
The initiative seeks to update the rules which regulate consumer-producer relations with the aim of guaranteeing that the rights of citizens come before interests of manufacturers.
The body of the statute also seeks to hold car park attendants responsible for damage caused to vehicles in their charge, to make distributors unable to avoid giving a guarantee for what they sell, and that a minor is only able to purchase online with the signed permission of his or her parents.
In terms of consumer protection, it states that the producer be held responsible for damage or a product defect. It also aims to prevent consumers from being mislead or deceived by advertising.
One of the authors of the initiative, House Representative for Bogota, Simon Gaviria, said “This gives access to justice to all Colombians in terms of fairness, necessity, proportionality and with sufficient guarantees.”
Antonio Guerra, a proponent of the bill in the Senate said that “finally consumers in Colombia, which we all are, will have regulation which allows them to obtain access to protection of their rights”.