LAW OF GONDOLAS
Act 27545
Provisions.
The Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, meeting in Congress, etc., are sanctioned by law:
Article 1-Objectives. This law has objectives:
a) Contribute to the transparent and competitive price of food, beverages, hygiene and household cleaning products for the benefit of consumers;
(b) Maintaining harmony and balance between economic operators as achieved by law, in order to prevent them from carrying out commercial practices that would harm or involve a risk to competition or cause distortions in the market;
(c) to extend the supply of national craft and/or regional products produced by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to protect their performance;
(d) To promote, through a special scheme, the supply of products from the family, peasant and indigenous agriculture sector, defined by Article 5 of Law 27.118, and the popular economy, as defined by Article 2 of the Annex to the Decree 159/2017, and the products generated from cooperatives and/or mutual associations in the terms of Law 20.337 and Law 20.321.
Article 2 °-Authority of application. The national executive branch shall designate the enforcement authority of this law.
Article 3 °-Subjects reached. The establishments defined by Article 1 of Law 18,425 are required to comply with this law.
Economic operators whose turnover is equivalent to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in accordance with the provisions of Article 2 of Law 24467, are exempted from the scheme provided for in this Act.
Article 4 °-Products achieved. This law shall apply exclusively to the placing on the market of food, beverages, personal hygiene products and household cleaning articles. The implementing authority shall, within the period of ninety (90) days of this law, draw up a list of the various categories of products to which the subjects referred to in Article 3 are placed on the market, and shall be responsible for the means for their advertising to the general population. The list must contain at least all the products of food, beverages, hygiene and household cleaning.
Article 5-Definitions. For the purposes of this law, it is understood by gondola all physical space, furniture, shelving, in which products of similar characteristics are offered, including the gondola tips. Exclusive freezers, display islands, and adjacent displays are not included in the box line. Also, the provisions concerning gondolas are extended to the virtual locations held by the subjects required by this law directly or indirectly, such as their website, mobile application, stores of commerce electronic or similar.
Article 6-Stimulus to competition. For the purpose of stimulating product competition, the subjects referred to in Article 3 shall be required to comply with the following provisions for each product group:
a) It is prohibited to generate an anticompetitive exclusion of suppliers for the rental of spaces in gondolas or virtual locations, or preferential spaces in gondolas or virtual locations;
(b) In particular, the payment of fees and/or commissions imposed by the persons defined in Article 3 of the present, which by virtue of their characteristics or magnitude, require the supplier to opt for a single channel shall be considered as an anti-competitive exclusion. distribution.
Article 7 °-Rules of display of products in gondolas, other places of physical exhibition and virtual locations. The gondolas located within the establishments in charge of the subjects defined in the article 3 ° of the present and the virtual locations thereof shall comply with the following rules of display of products:
(a) In gondolas and virtual locations, the display of products of a supplier or group may not exceed 30% (30%) of the available space which it shares with products of similar characteristics. Participation shall involve no less than five (5) suppliers or business groups;
(b) In gondolas and virtual locations, twenty-five percent (25%) of the available space for products of similar characteristics and different brands should be guaranteed for the exhibition of products produced by micro and small enterprises (a) national registered in the Registry of MSMEs and/or RENAF, or those which in the future replace them and/or produced by cooperatives and/or mutual associations in the terms of Law 20.337 and Law 20.321; and 5% (5%) additional for products originating from family, peasant or indigenous agriculture as defined by Article 5 of the Law 27.118, and sectors of the popular economy, as defined in Article 2 of the Annex to Decree 159/2017;
(c) In gondolas the lower price products as the unit of measure must be at an equal height between the first and the last shelf. In virtual locations, it shall be ensured that the lowest priced products as the unit of measure are published in the first display of products of the category concerned;
(d) In the exhibition islands and adjacent displays, the boxes must be presented in fifty percent (50%) of the space products produced by micro and small national enterprises registered in the Registry of MySmes and/or the RENAF, or the that in the future they will replace and/or produced by cooperatives and/or mutual associations in the terms of Law 20.337 and Law 20.321, or those that will replace them in the future;
e) In gondolas and virtual locations the display of imported products shall not exceed the percentage determined by the applicable space application authority for each product category, depending on the capacity of the industry national to meet the demand for products, seeking to foster the growth of the product.
For the purposes of the above, the products of trademarks licensed by or controlled by the same trade groups or companies shall be considered as a single mark.
Article 8-Limits to abuse of a dominant position. For the purposes of reducing the costs for the suppliers of the subjects referred to in Article 3, the following conditions shall be met in the relationship between the suppliers and the sales establishments:
(a) The maximum period of payments to micro and small national enterprises registered in the Registry of MSMEs and/or the RENFE, or those which replace them in the future, may not exceed sixty (60) days. In addition, suppliers may apply interest using the National Bank's Active Rate in case of payments made out of term, as long as there are no legal and substantiated reasons for the non-compliance;
(b) The subjects referred to in Article 3 may not require the suppliers to make financial contributions or advances for any reason, nor shall they be able to apply to the suppliers any economic withholding or unilateral debits; the latter may only be applied by mutual agreement and where the conditions for making them are expressly provided for in the contract which binds them;
(c) In the contractual negotiation between the subjects referred to in Article 3 ° and the supplier of one or more certain products may not object as a condition for the delivery of free goods or below the cost of provision, or any other Anti-competitive practice;
(d) In the negotiation of prices between the subjects referred to in Article 3 and the supplier of one or more certain products, the conditions or variations in the prices of third-party suppliers may not be imposed;
(e) It is prohibited to require the suppliers of the costs of reverse distribution or replacement of the products;
(f) All costs for promotional sales of products, or for the generation of waste or mermas, shall be contractually established and by means of equitable and objective criteria;
(g) The contractual obligations or their modifications to be concluded between the subjects reached by this law and its suppliers must be formalized in writing.
(h) It is prohibited to provide for the provision of sensitive commercial information which is improper for the commercial relationship or which involves information relating to the supplier's relationship with other market operators or information from the competition.
Article 9 °-Promotion of regional products. Set up for purchases and hiring among the subjects defined in Article 3 of this Law and the subjects of the family, peasant and indigenous agriculture sector, as defined by Article 5 of Law 27.118, of the sectors of the popular economy, defined by Article 2 of the Annex to Decree 159/2017, and/or produced by cooperatives and/or mutual associations in the terms of Law 20.337 and Law 20.321 and producers of fruits and vegetables in general:
(a) Payment periods exceeding 40 (40) days may not be agreed;
(b) flexible and sector-specific schemes should be established for the delivery of products;
(c) Facilities should be provided for in the procurement, distribution and marketing requirements.
Suppliers may apply interest using the Active Rate of the Nation Bank in case of payments made out of term, as long as there are no legal and substantiated reasons for the non-compliance.
Article 10.-Regional purchase. The national products produced by micro and small enterprises, the subjects of the family, peasant and indigenous agriculture sector, defined by article 5 ° of Law 27.118, of the sectors of the popular economy, defined by Article 2 ° of the Annex to Decree 159/2017, and/or produced by cooperatives and/or mutual associations in the terms of Law 20.337 and Law 20.321, which are offered under this law, must be highlighted in the gondolas and virtual locations with an isologotype designed to design the application authority expressing the legend 'Buy Mysmes' and indicate the number of this law.
Article 11.-Code of Practice. Create the Code of Good Commercial and Retail Distribution Practices, which will be mandatory for the subjects defined in Article 3, and which have an annual gross turnover of more than three hundred million (300,000,000) of mobile units of law 27,442, of defence of competition, considering the invoicing of the entire economic group.
The other companies may apply the Code of Good Commercial Practice by voluntarily adhering to it by means of the procedure which the implementing authority establishes for such purposes.
The code shall be drawn up by the implementing authority, based on the guidelines laid down in this law, and with the participation of the national, provincial and municipal bodies of consumer protection as appropriate.
Article 12.-Commercial practice. The Code of Good Commercial Practices of Distribution should include practices deemed abusive under this law and those arising out of the current commercial law of commercial loyalty, defense of competition, and defense of the consumers. It shall also include:
(a) the obligation to designate a corporate compliance officer for the code, and the notification of the appointment to the suppliers and the implementing authority;
(b) to provide for contracts for an alternative dispute settlement procedure, which may be private mediation and/or arbitration;
c) The periodic referral to the authority of the application of the information required regarding the compliance of the code and the information required to the Observatory of the Chain of Food Value created by this law, in quality of affidavit.
Written contracts concluded between the companies reached and their suppliers must incorporate the copy of the Code of Good Commercial Practices.
Article 13-Transitional non-compliance with non-competition. Where, for a given product group, it is not possible to comply with the minimum limits laid down in this law, the subjects referred to in Article 3 shall inform the application authority of the reasons for the founded on such non-compliance and the time limit expected to be adjusted to the present, which may not exceed thirty (30) days, which may be extended for the same time in the same period.
It may only be exempted from compliance with the ceilings set out in this case in cases where the implementing authority establishes the factual impossibility of offering the products that this law seeks to promote.
Before determining how the offer of products in certain segments will be deserted, they must be published on the web portal that determines the regulations for the period of sixty (60) days products, prices, assured annualised demand and requirements of to ensure the search for new suppliers. The absence of suppliers will allow the partial non-compliance of this law until a new supplier is present to meet the demand of the marketing chains.
Article 14.-Public order. The provisions of this law are of public order.
Article 15.-Integration. The provisions of this law are integrated with the general and special rules applicable to consumer and competition relations, in particular the laws 24.240, of the Consumer Protection, 27.442, of the Defense of Competition, Commercial Loyalty, and/or those that replace them. In case of doubt as to the interpretation of the principles established by this law, the most favorable to the weaker sectors participating in the chain of production, marketing and consumption of the products included in the system will prevail.
Article 16-Deadline. The establishments referred to in Article 3 ° shall have a period of one hundred and twenty (120) days running from the enactment of this law to make the necessary modifications and implement the provisions of this law.
Article 17-Sanctions. In the event of non-compliance with the provisions of this law, the implementing authority shall apply the rules referred to in the procedure and penalties laid down in the Trade Loyalty Regime, promoting the participation of the organisations of Consumer Defense from all over the country.
The subjects listed in Article 18 of this Law shall be entitled to promote complaints of non-compliance with this law. If the non-compliance affects consumers, complaints to the national, provincial or municipal law enforcement authorities may also be initiated.
Failure to comply with this law shall be liable to the penalties and fines provided for in the Trade Loyalty Regime, without prejudice to any other sanctions that may be applicable in accordance with the procedure of law 27.442 or 24.240.
Funds raised under the application of financial penalties for non-compliance with this law shall be allocated by the implementing authority in accordance with the following distribution:
a) Seventy percent (70%) for advertising promotion of national food purchases under this law. In turn, of this amount, fifty percent (50%) of the budget will be applied in mass media and fifty percent (50%) in SMEs and cooperative media.
(b) Twenty-five percent (25%) of the total of the fines applied for a fund for the development of the subjects of the family, peasant and indigenous agriculture sector, defined by Article 5 of Law 27.118, of the sectors of the popular economy, defined by article 2 ° of the Annex of Decree 159/2017, Cooperatives and Mutual Associations in the terms of Law 20.337 and Law 20.321, via variable rate credits according to the CPI INDEC inflation plus administrative costs of the Nation Bank;
c) Five percent (5%) for the operation of the Observatory of the Value Chain.
Article 18.-Delegation. The associations, business chambers, cooperatives of the popular economy that nucleate the subjects involved in the production and marketing of the products covered by this law, as well as the associations of consumers registered in the National Register of Consumers ' Associations may audit the compliance of the present in the form of an ad honorem collaborator of the control body, subject to the institutional agreement of the parties providing for the registration and training of persons qualified for this purpose.
Article 19.-Observatory. The Observatory of the Value Chain, which will require and collect relevant information from the different instances of the production processes of the products achieved by the law, will be created within the scope of the application of this law. present law in the field of the Argentine Republic.
The monitoring, consultation, information and study of the operation of the value chain of the products covered by this law, as well as the advice of the public administration bodies, will be carried out by the observatory. involved.
Article 20.-Registration. The register created by Article 6 of Law 27.345 shall provide for the particularities required for the performance of this law.
Article 21.-Dissemination. The implementing authority shall disseminate the objectives and contents of this law in national and local media, on the public and on the web. You will also need to enable a free telephone line to receive complaints of a lack of competition for consumers and consumer associations.
Article 22.-Commune to the national executive branch.
GIVEN IN THE SESSION HALL OF THE ARGENTINE CONGRESS, IN BUENOS AIRES, AT THE TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS OF THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY OF THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND TWENTY
REGISTERED UNDER NO 27545
CLAUDIA LEDESMA ABDALLAH DE ZAMORA-SERGIO MASSA-Marcelo Jorge Fuentes-Eduardo Cergnul
e. 17/03/2020 N ° 15283/20 v. 17/03/2020