/ Obligation to report duration of goods: Sernac issued circular letter

Maria Ignacia Ormeño Sarralde
Associate Attorney
Alessandri Abogados

In the case of sales of durable goods, the duration of the good, including the term in which the supplier is obliged to provide spare parts and technical services for its repair, will be considered basic commercial information and must be informed in a timely manner.

The National Consumer Service (Sernac) published Exempt Resolution 773 on the manner in which suppliers must comply with the obligation to inform the duration of the goods, as well as the term in which spare parts and technical services will be available. This circular letter is issued pursuant to Law No. 21,398 pro-consumer, which incorporated a new third paragraph in Article 1 No. 3 of Law No. 19,496 on Consumer Rights Protection (LPDC) relating to basic commercial information (IBC).

According to Sernac, durable goods are those non-consumable goods that allow repeated or continued use for a long period of time and that, under foreseeable conditions of use, retain their usefulness, functionality and performance, without prejudice to the wear and tear or deterioration that may occur due to their use. For example, automobiles, household appliances in general, machinery, furniture, among others.

This circular letter imposes the duty to inform the duration of the goods in foreseeable conditions of use and the duty to inform the term in which the supplier is obliged to provide spare parts and technical services. In order to determine this term, Sernac interprets that suppliers must rely on objective, reliable, verifiable and suitable background and methods for such purpose, by virtue of the basic and inalienable right of consumers to free choice of goods and services, to receive truthful and timely information about them and to safety in consumption, enshrined in the LPDC.

Sernac recognizes that since the legislator has not established a specific term, based on an interpretation of the LPDC, such term cannot be less than the legal warranty term. That is why the legal warranty period corresponds to a minimum floor of durability of the products.

The circular letter states that the six-month term established by the legislator for the exercise of the legal warranty cannot be, in any case, altered by the IBC provided with respect to the durability of the good or the availability of spare parts or technical service.

These terms are independent of each other and their computation does not necessarily start at the same time. Thus, for example, in the case of the legal warranty of products, the six-month period begins to run from the date of receipt, while the milestone for calculating the durability of the good will be determined by the supplier, which must be based on the objective and verifiable characteristics of the product. The circular letter distinguishes between IBC on availability of spare parts and IBC on availability of technical service.

Furthermore, the obligation to inform the period during which the supplier is obliged to have spare parts and technical service available for repair should not be confused with the inalienable right of consumers to opt for free repair of the good in the event of non-conformity, or with other homologous alternatives granted by suppliers. These shall be carried out free of charge for the consumer, within the framework of the same contractual relationship, with the supplier having to assume their costs, while the spare parts and technical service that the supplier undertakes to provide are part of a new contractual relationship, for which the consumer must give his or her consent, when he or she deems it convenient, in addition to paying the price of the service or product contracted.