Draft bill 212.

Summary.

The draft bill amends paragraph 1 of Article 36 of Law 45 of 2007, which addresses suppliers’ duties to consumers. It retains the requirement to provide clear and truthful information about the characteristics of an offered product or service, including its nature, composition, contents, weight, origin, expiration date, toxicity, precautions and price, as well as any other material condition. It adds an express duty to disclose when restaurants, cafés, bars or other food outlets use substitute or imitation products instead of the originals in preparing food or drinks. The information would appear on the packaging, container, menu, a visible notice at the establishment, the product label or the store shelf, in understandable and legible terms.

For medicines, agricultural chemicals, toxic products and foods that require specific warnings or precautions because they pose a danger to human health, the information would have to appear on the label in Spanish, as determined by the Executive Branch (Órgano Ejecutivo) through the Ministry of Health (Ministerio de Salud). For other products and services, the competent Authority would determine which information must be supplied according to the type or nature of each class. It could also require additional labeling particulars for other products according to their nature. An importer or supplier that repackages, rebottles, relabels or changes a product’s original packaging or label could not alter or conceal its original information about the product’s characteristics and material conditions.

The draft bill adds Article 36-A to Law 45 of October 31, 2007. That provision would apply to every food establishment, including restaurants, cafés, bars, small eateries, food stalls and similar businesses, that uses substitute or imitation products to prepare food or drinks. It would require a visible disclosure on the menu or in a notice at the point of sale. Failure to provide the notice would constitute a serious violation, subject to a penalty imposed by the Consumer Protection and Competition Defense Authority (Autoridad de Protección al Consumidor y Defensa de la Competencia, Acodeco) under that Law, without prejudice to any applicable civil or criminal liability.

The Executive Branch, acting through Acodeco, would issue implementing regulations within no more than six (6) months after promulgation in the Official Gazette. The proposed Law would take effect sixty (60) days after that promulgation. Its provisions concern the Executive Branch, the Ministry of Health and Acodeco, as well as suppliers and importers, food establishments, consumers, and the medicine, agricultural chemical, toxic product and food sectors.