Anatel Clarifies Penalties for Retail Stores Selling Illegal Cellphones in Brazil; the daily fine can reach R$6 million
During a press conference held this afternoon (21), the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) has clarified the punishments for retail stores that fail to comply with new rules that seek to stop the sale of illegal mobile phones in Brazil, with a daily fine of up to R$6 million and extreme measures to remove e-commerce from the ether, blocking domains, in case of non-compliance.
- Anatel will fine and block websites selling pirated cell phones in Brazil
- Amazon and Mercado Livre have 48 hours to remove advertising from illegal cell phones
The press conference was held to announce the calendar of precautionary measures for non-compliant companies, i.e. those that have more than 30% of mobile phone advertising not approved by Anatel.
Two national retail giants fall into this category: Amazonwhich leads the ranking with 51.5% of non-approved mobile phone advertisements, and the Free marketwith 42.8%.
Understand the possible sanctions for non-compliance
Starting from Friday 21 June, companies classified as “non-compliant” will have 15 days to comply with the provision and, therefore, only display advertisements with the Anatel certification seal, guaranteeing that the equipment is approved.
First punishment
In case of non-compliance after the 15-day period, stores will receive a daily fine of R$200,000 with a new additional 10-day period for compliance.
Second punishment
From the eleventh day of non-compliance, Anatel begins to apply a daily fine of R$ 1 million (in addition to the fine of R$ 200 thousand per day of the first fine) and the order to remove all mobile phone advertisements from the platform.
This removal would affect both illegal and legal devices.
Third punishment
If the precautionary measure is not respected by the 21st day, the fine amounts to an additional R$6 million per day and all devices subject to Anatel approval will be removed from the platform, regardless of whether they contain legal advertisements or not.
Final punishment
Finally, the most extreme measure occurs 25 days after failure to comply with the precautionary measure, where the e-commerce is taken offline for not having respected the determination, maintaining the deactivation until the adverts are regularised.
Anatel would eliminate it from the Internet market, forcing all telecommunications operators to block this store’s domain on the web (the address that the consumer types into the browser).
Timings for failure to comply with the precautionary measure
- June 21st: Start of precautionary measure;
- July 6: daily fine of R$ 200 thousand;
- June 17th: additional daily fine of R$1 million and withdrawal of all mobile advertising;
- June 27: daily fine of R$6 million and withdrawal of all devices subject to approval;
- June 31st: removed from the site.
According to Anatel’s superintendent of subsidies and procurement resources, Vinicius Oliveira Caram Guimarães, “it will be up to Anatel to inspect Brazilian e-commerce sites” to classify the compliance of all of them.
Platform compliance
- Compliant company: All mobile phone advertisements are approved by Anatel.
- Partially compliant company: demonstrates the implementation of product identification mechanisms, with up to 30% of advertisements disapproved.
- Non-compliant company: Contains over 30% unapproved cell phone ads.
The latest monitoring was carried out between June 1st and 7th, with Amazon at the top of the ranking with over 51% of mobile phones for sale on its site made up of non-approved models.
In short, out of 10 cell phones advertised on Amazon, 5 are in an irregular situation.
Mercado Livre follows with over 42% of unapproved mobile phones, where 4 out of 10 adverts concern illegal devices.
Stores Americans appear in a partially compliant situation, while Casas Bahia, Luiza magazine, Carrefour and Shopee are compliant.
Classification of e-commerce platforms according to Anatel
- Amazon: non-compliant, with 51.52% of mobile phones not approved
- Free market: non-compliant, with 42.86% of mobile phones not approved
- American stores: partially compliant, with 22.86% of cell phones not approved
- Casas Bahia: compliant, with 7.79% of mobile phones not approved
- Luiza magazine: compliant, with 0% of non-approved mobile phones
- Carrefour: compliant, with signature of the Compliance Plan
- Shopee: compliant, with signature of the Compliance Plan
In May, Amazon has removed illegal ads on mobile phones following a request from Senacon and revealed that partner sellers had temporarily suspended their stores due to the sale of erratic smartphones.
At the time, sellers could appeal by presenting documentation to Amazon that demonstrated the regularity of each product.
Also in May, Mercado Livre said it is actively working to try to stop the posting of illegal advertisements and the sale of irregular devices.
Anatel’s new measures aim to strengthen the rules and apply sanctions in case of non-compliance. Councilor Artur Coimbra de Oliveira says “the agency has been working on this issue for years” approaching markets, traders and importers “with a cooperative profile” to avoid surprises.
“It is important to contextualize this history of attempted cooperation so that one does not think that this is a drastic or sudden measure.” According to him, “it is the result of the lack of cooperation from some agents during this process” which has lasted for at least three years.
Official positioning of the Mercado Livre
Mercado Livre informs that, on 06/14/2024, it presented to Anatel, in a collaborative and proactive way, the new measures implemented on its platform to prevent the sale of unapproved products, enhancing the quality of its users’ experience. When an irregular product is identified on the platform, the advert is deleted and the seller is notified, and may even be banned permanently. Mercado Livre also reiterates its determination to collaborate with Anatel and mobile phone manufacturers in the fight against irregular products, through several initiatives, including its Intellectual Property Protection Program, the Brand Protection Program and the CAP Tool – Program of cooperation agreements. Mercado Livre worked together with the agency and in a collaborative manner, in line with the permanent cooperation it maintains with the public and private sectors to combat irregularities.
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Source: Terra
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