A obsolescência programada diante do sistema consumerista brasileiro: da responsabilidade civil dos fornecedores aos horizontes para proteção dos consumidores

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze planned obsolescence in light of consumer law, with an objective to examining the possible civil liability of suppliers involved in this practice, which purposely aims to reduce the useful life of products that they can be replaced early, stimulating recurrent consumption and damaging the consumers and the environment. The relevance of the topic is associated with the fact that planned obsolescence is part of life and daily life of many consumers, who are often frustrated with the useful life of the consumer goods they purchase, especially durable products. Search for a solution to protect consumers, the vulnerable part of the consumption relationship, from the damage caused by planned obsolescence, an artifice resulting from an industrial and capitalist society, which increasingly encourages unbridled consumption and tolerates the throwaway culture. Without focusing on the environmental impacts related to the issue, the research focuses on the consumer aspects of the phenomenon, in order to contemplate the analysis of the life cycle of products, the modalities of planned obsolescence itself, confronting them with the preventive and reparatory mechanisms provided for in the Consumer Defense Code, in order to ascertain the existence or not of suitable instruments for consumer protection in the face of this practice. To carry out the work, the research was based on the review of national and foreign literature in the area of interest, in addition to the normative and documental analysis, searching in other areas of knowledge, such as Sociology, for subsidies that would enrich the bibliographical research. The dissertation is divided into three chapters, specifically to deal with: the conceptual and historical aspects related to planned obsolescence, its manifestations in the consumer system and the theme's intersection with the civil liability of suppliers. In conclusion, it can be said that the CDC does not have robust and effective preventive or remedial instruments to protect the consumer against the deliberate reduction of the useful life of products. In this aspect, we present possible paths that can contribute to the solution of the problems pointed out.