The National Consumer Secretariat (Senacon), an agency linked to the Ministry of Justice, suspended the sale of iPhones without a charger and fined Apple, the company responsible for the smartphone, in R$ 12,274,500.00.
Senacon also canceled the registration of devices from the iPhone 12 model.
The assessment is that it is a tie-in sale and that Apple has not shown that the measure would be in favor of environmental protection on Brazilian soil.
“The represented company, which continues to manufacture battery chargers, clearly propagates the discourse that the choice of purchase was passed on to the consumer, but, in fact, it is she who decided the way of supplying her product. There are no elements to consider justified an operation that, with a declared aim to reduce carbon emissions, entails the insertion in the consumer market of a product whose use depends on the acquisition of another, which is also commercialized by the company”, explains Laura Postal. Tirelli, director of Senacon.
The company stopped selling the devices with charger in October 2020 , since iPhone version 12. The claim is that the measure is part of the brand’s set of environmental protection actions.
Laura Postal also considers that the exclusion of chargers did not lead to a reduction in the price of the device, which constitutes a transfer of responsibility to third parties.
“The monopoly power that the company has in a market structure presented as monopolistic competition guarantees it a wide margin to impose a price above marginal cost, due to its perceived differentiation in the market in relation to other competitors. As such, pricing is predominantly determined by commercial strategy rather than strictly matching production costs.”
Apple kept sale after Procons fine
The National Consumer Secretariat, when imposing a fine of more than R$ 12 million, maintains that the measure has a “repressive and retrospective” purpose.
“Even with the application of administrative fines carried out by the PROCONs in the country, and the judicial convictions applied in the national territory, Apple Computer Brazil did not take any measures to minimize the damage, remaining to date selling cell phones without chargers. ”, points out the director.
Apple can appeal. If you don’t want to, you’ll get a 25% discount on the fine.
Source: CNN Brasil
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