Brazilian Consumer Defense Code, Federal Law no. 8.078 [English version]

Articles 3, 14, 17 and 43, §2

The Consumer Protection and Defense Code, which application should prevail over the Civil Code by virtue of the principle of lex specialis, defines supplier, on its Section 3, as “any individual or legal entity, either public or private, Brazilian or foreign, as well as depersonalized beings, that develop activities of production, assembly, creation, construction, transformation, importation, exportation, distribution or marketing of products or service provision.” By means of its activities, service providers are considered suppliers by virtue of Brazilian law, thus being regulated by that Code. Article 18 of the Code states that all suppliers involved in the chain of supply are jointly liable to compensate consumers for flaws in products and damages thereof. Hence, ISPs involved in the supply of products may be prosecuted for any vice regarding products in which sale they are involved. Liability in cases of provision of services is regulated by Sections 14 and 20 of the Code. Article 14 addresses liability for suppliers for the provision of services that harm or pose risk to consumers' health or safety, whereas Article 20 addresses general liability for vice on a service. In both provisions only direct liability is instituted. However, courts occasionally overlook the distinction and rule that all suppliers involved in the chain of supply of faulty services are jointly liable, by strict liability, also in such cases.