Institutional News

Government wants to harden rules for virtual marketplaces and divides sector

Major chains, online retailers and the National Secretariat of the Consumer met to discuss changes in responsibility for the sale of counterfeit or illegal items by marketplaces.

The government is beginning to harden the rules that guide the activity of “marketplaces” in the country, sites that sell items from virtual vendors. Large chains, online retailers and the National Consumer Secretariat (Senacon), associated to the Ministry of Justice (MJ), met to discuss changes in the understanding of responsibility for the sale of counterfeit or illegal items by marketplaces.

“It is the start of the debate, the first step is thinking about consumer safety, and the second step will be to address the broader responsibility of marketplaces for their sales in general,” said Luciano Benetti Timm, National Consumer Secretary at MJ. This sector grows in Brazil 60% per year and is a new focus of complaints in state Procons.

After almost a year of negotiations to create a memorandum of understanding, there was no agreement between the companies. There were several meetings, with tense conflicts, due to a division between the companies themselves, represented by entities.

The main opposition is between the Institute for the Development of Retail (IDV) and the Brazilian Chamber of Electronic Commerce (camara-e.net). IDV represents chains that operate with physical stores and websites, such as Magazine Luiza, Casas Bahia and Renner – in which the marketplace has less weight in sales. Marketplace companies, such as Mercado Livre and Amazon, are represented by camara-e.net.

Source: https://valorinveste.globo.com/mercados/renda-variavel/empresas/noticia/2020/02/14/governo-quer-endurecer-regras-para-shoppings-virtuais-e-setor-racha.ghtml