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[null,"Prepared By:","Contributors:"]
[null,"Pérez Bustamante & Ponce","Diego Pérez-Ordóñez"]
[null,null,"Patricio Quevedo"]
[null,null,"Juan Simone Lasso"]
[]
["Latin American Consumer Guide 2024"]
[]
["Report Generated: 5/1/2025"]
[]
["View your report results on next tab"]

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["Question","Ecuador"]
["General Matters"]
["What is the applicable legal regime addressing consumer protection in your jurisdiction?"," Organic Consumer Defense Law (\"OCDL\") and its Regulations. Law of the Ecuadorian Quality System (\"LEQS\") and its Regulation. This subsidiary law applies to goods subject to compliance with INEN Technical Regulations. "]
["What is the definition of a consumer?","The consumer is any natural or legal person who, as the final recipient, acquires, uses, or enjoys goods or services or receives an offer to do so. (OCDL, Art. 2.2)\n"]
["What goods and services are covered by consumer protection legislation in your jurisdiction?","All goods and services offered to consumers, except those for which there are specific regulations, for which a price or fee is charged. (OCDL, Art. 1). Examples of services with special rules are telecommunications and banking services.\n"]
["Do the applicable regulations provide a list of consumer rights?"," Yes.  \n \n \n Right to protection of life, health, and safety in consuming goods and services. \n \n \n Right to the supply of goods and services of optimum quality. \n \n \n The right to adequate, truthful, transparent, timely, and complete information on the goods and services offered. \n \n \n The right to transparent, equitable, non-discriminatory, and non-abusive treatment. \n \n \n The right to protection against misleading or abusive advertising. \n \n \n Right to consumer education. \n \n \n Right to redress and compensation for damages for deficiencies and poor quality of goods and services. \n \n \n Right to the constitution of associations of consumers and users. \n \n \n The right to follow the corresponding administrative and judicial actions. \n \n \n The right for companies to keep books of consumer complaints. (OCDL, Art. 4) \n \n "]
["Do the applicable regulations provide a list of consumer duties?"," Yes. \n \n Exercise responsible consumption of goods and services. \n Avoid affecting the environment through the consumption of goods or services that may be hazardous. \n Avoid any risk that may affect their health and life by consuming lawful goods or services. \n To inform themselves responsibly of the conditions of use of the goods and services to be consumed. \n "]
["Does the authority have extraterritorial jurisdiction when the offeror of the products or services is not located in the territory under its jurisdiction?","No, the Ombudsman's Office, the authority designated to hear administrative disputes arising from the consumer, only has territorial jurisdiction, so it is competent to hear cases of non-compliance occurring in Ecuador.\n\n\n\nEcuadorian judges (in cases that progress to trial) do not usually (as well as Ecuadorian plaintiffs) bring foreign-domiciled companies to trial. Legally, this is not impossible (these foreign entities should be notified according to foreign subpoena agreements), but it is not a generally used mechanism.\n\n\n(OCDL, Art. 1 and 81)\n"]
["Is there any alternative or special regime depending on the type of good or service?","No, mediation in administrative proceedings before the Ombudsman's Office is a mechanism generally available in consumer disputes. Judicially, there is only one type of process before the ordinary courts. Arbitration is also possible in these disputes.\n"]
["What is the minimum information required to be provided to the consumer with respect to goods?"," The minimum basic information that must be provided to the consumer is: \n \n The final price of the product is expressed in local currency. \n Information on the safety of use, instructions on the correct handling and warnings of the product, weight, and measurements according to the nature of the product, and warranty, if applicable. \n The information must be visible, clear, and legible. Outside this basic standard, some products and services require specific labels, depending on the applicable technical standards. (OCDL, Art. 9) \n "]
["Potential Claims"]
["Is there a general warranty for products and/or services?","Yes, there is a legal obligation to provide a warranty on products of a durable nature, and the supplier must correct manufacturing or operational faults. The \"warranted\" labels must detail the terms and conditions of the warranty, including time limits and places of claim. Also, the warranty must specify who is offering it and the places and conditions of validity.\n\n\nNotably, there is no general statutory minimum warranty period.\n\n\n(OCDL, Art. 11)\n"]
["Are there any products that have a legal warranty different from the general warranty?","No, the law does not determine a more specific regulatory provision for certain products concerning the product warranty. The general provision set forth above is the one that applies in general.\n \n"]
["For what reasons could the consumer initiate a complaint regarding a purchased product or service?","Among the most general reasons are the following: violation of consumer rights, failure to adequately display basic information on products or services, misleading advertising, the sale of defective products or services without their faults being announced, erroneous labeling for specific cases such as food and drugs, exceeding the established capacity in public shows, suspension, and unjustified charging for services, for misleading or abusive advertising, for non-compliance with the terms of the warranty.\n"]
["Is there a specific judicial action to resolve lawsuits arising from consumer matters?"," Yes, before the Ombudsman's Office, an administrative mediation process is first applied. If no agreement is reached, the consumer is presented with the option of filing a consumer action for damages before a criminal judge because, in Ecuador, consumer matters have become similar to a criminal offense even though civil-consumer matters are discussed, and no prison penalties exist, only patrimonial damages and fines. \n (OCDL, Art. 81 and 86) "]
["If there is no specific judicial action, how does the consumer make a claim?","N/A.\n"]
["What types of damages are recognized in legal actions arising from consumer matters? E.g., compensatory damages and punitive damages."," The law states that it is liable for all damages. Therefore, according to our general legal system, a consumer infringement is susceptible to cause the following damages: immediate damages, loss of profits, and moral damages. There are no punitive or consequential damages in Ecuador. (OCDL, Art. 71) "]
["Can consumer issues lead to class actions?","Yes."]
["How often does this occur?","Consumer matters can be filed as class actions. Class actions in Ecuador are almost null; it has not been part of the Ecuadorian legal culture to use group or class actions in this matter.\n"]
["Who is responsible for consumer satisfaction? E.g., Producer, supplier, carrier."," The entire commercial chain. In fact, the law determines that the following are jointly and severally liable: producers, manufacturers, importers, distributors, transporters, and traders. \n (OCDL, Art. 2) "]
["Activities that could develop the Consumer Protection Authorities"]
["Does any authority have the power to regulate, monitor, investigate and sanction non-compliance with the consumer protection regime?","Yes, the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment, and Fisheries, as well as the National Standardization Service INEN, which is part of that Ministry. They do so with respect to products and services subject to technical standards.\n"]
["What type of sanctions could be imposed by the authority? E.g., monetary (indicate max. value), closure of establishment","Penalties may include fines, confiscation of goods, and temporary or permanent closure of establishments.\n \n"]
["Recall Procedures"]
["Does the legal regime regulate safety campaigns or product recalls?","Yes, the Ministry of Production has established two systems to ensure safety and product recalls: 1) the Product Recall, issued after complaints or inspections revealing quality non-compliances by a judicial body; and 2) the Voluntary Product Recall, a voluntary communication by the company of product failures to avoid sanctions.\nEcuador does not have any laws dealing with specific regulation of product or service recalls.\n"]
["Does the legal regime of safety campaigns or product recalls apply to products marketed abroad and not in the country?","No, the legal regime of safety campaigns or product recalls does not apply to products marketed abroad.\n \n"]
["Electronic commerce"]
["Are there any special regulations on e-commerce?","Yes, there are some regulations in the Electronic Commerce, Signatures and Data Messages Law. This law validates electronic contracting and determines certain rights for consumers. Additionally, the Commercial Code establishes certain rules on consent in this type of contract.\n \n"]
["What types of e-commerce platforms are regulated by your legislation? List and define them."," There is no specific regulation by type of platform. "]
["Are there any additional rights for the e-commerce regime? E.g., Right to cancel the purchase.","Yes, there are certain additional rights regarding the disclosure of information.\n"]
["Crypto assets"]
["Is this regime applicable for the purchase and sale of crypto assets?","Yes, the general consumer protection regime would also be applicable to the purchase and sale of crypto assets, with the exception of the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies, which is illegal within Ecuador.\n \n"]
["Influencers"]
["Are there any provisions or does the regime contemplate any regulations that must be applied by influencers when advertising?","Yes, If the activities of influencers involve advertising, promotion or information about electronic services, the requirements established by law regarding the content of the information must be observed. For example, the information cannot be misleading.\n \n"]
["Additional matter of interest"]
["Are there any expected changes over the next 12 months that are likely to have a significant impact on the regime in your jurisdiction?","No, there are no expected changes in Ecuador's regime in the upcoming months that will significantly impact this legal regime.\n"]