You’ve Got Seven Days to Cancel

Reconsidering that purchase you made? Perhaps you signed the contract and now you regret it. Unless a contract provides for cancellation, there’s a good chance you’re out of luck. Afterall, that’s the purpose of a contract. It binds the parties to an agreement. Or does it?

Brazil is a relatively pro consumer jurisdiction, so it’s not surprising that the law gives consumers, in certain situations, the right to get out of a contract. Article 49 of the Brazilian Consumer Protection Code (Código de Defesa do Consumidor) includes a 7 day grace period for consumers to change their mind. It applies to purchases of both goods and services.

To take advantage of the law, the purchase must happen in a place other than a physical store. For example, you can’t go to a cell phone shop, purchase a phone and then terminate the contract. It would, however, be different if you purchased the same phone on the Internet.

In addition, contracts for custom goods are often treated differently by courts even though the law itself makes no such distinction. This is particularly true when the seller has already started to manufacture the custom product.

Brazil’s contract grace period isn’t all that different from what we see in some US jurisdictions. For example, in Florida, home solicitation sales have a 3 day “cooling off period” while timeshare sales have a 10 day cancellation period.

Your best bet is to only sign contracts you know you can perform. But, should you need an out, Brazil’s Consumer Protection Code may be your saving grace.