The National Consumer Secretariat (Senacon), linked to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, guided more than 900 Procons across the country to open administrative proceedings against Apple and Samsung. The reason is the sale of cell phone devices without power chargers.
According to a note released yesterday (12) by Senacon, the opening of the processes will serve for companies to present explanations for the removal of chargers and even to take measures to ensure consumer satisfaction.
The withdrawal of chargers was announced by Apple in October 2020. The company said it would no longer include the charger in the sale of the iPhone 12. The strategy was maintained at the launch of the iPhone 13, last year. Samsung, on the other hand, announced the withdrawal of the charger and headphone jack, in January 2021, for the Galaxy S21 cell line. The companies justified the decision with the argument of reducing the environmental impact.
The measure caused Procon de São Paulo to apply a fine of more than R$10.5 million against Apple. In Fortaleza, the fine imposed by the consumer protection agency was R$ 26 million. The amount was shared with Samsung.
“According to estimates from Consumer Protection agencies, if only about half of the Procons (450) penalized each of the two technological giants by R$ 10 million, they would have to send no less than R$ to the Procon resources fund. 9 billion”, informed Senacon.
