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Coverage

Card and bank billing

Brazil — Código de Defesa do Consumidor (right of regret and double refund of undue charges)

NationalBRDerived or secondary source

Brazil

Rule id
billing.br-cdc
Version
1.0.0
In force from
March 11, 1991
Last read against its sources
August 5, 2026
Countries bound
Brazil

In plain language

What this regime says.

Brazil's Consumer Defence Code gives you seven days to withdraw from any online or off-premises purchase for no reason at all (art. 49), and entitles you to twice your money back plus interest where you were charged something you did not owe and paid it (art. 42, parágrafo único).

Who is covered

Anyone in a consumer relationship in Brazil. The Code's provisions are of public order and cannot be contracted out of.

What you get

A monetarily adjusted refund; where the charge was undue and paid, double that amount plus interest; and, where the treatment went beyond inconvenience, moral damages.

Where claims go wrong

  • Being told art. 49 only covers defective goods. It is a no-fault right of regret.
  • Claiming only the amount charged and forgetting the doubling in art. 42.
  • Not using consumidor.gov.br first — it is free, fast and produces a record.
  • Missing the short art. 26 periods for complaining about apparent defects, which are separate from the five-year damages prescription.
The official claim route

Authority

Every citation,
with its pinpoint.

A claim that cites “EU law” gets filed. A claim that cites Article 7(1)(c) gets answered. These are the exact coordinates this entry rests on.
  1. Código de Defesa do Consumidor, art. 49Lei nº 8.078, de 11 de setembro de 1990 (Código de Defesa do Consumidor)art. 49 — direito de arrependimento: seven days from signing or receipt where the contract was concluded away from the establishment, with refund of amounts paid, monetarily adjusted
  2. Código de Defesa do Consumidor, art. 42, parágrafo únicoLei nº 8.078, de 11 de setembro de 1990art. 42, parágrafo único — repetição do indébito em dobro, acrescido de correção monetária e juros legais, salvo hipótese de engano justificável
  3. Código de Defesa do Consumidor, arts. 14 and 20Lei nº 8.078, de 11 de setembro de 1990art. 14 (strict liability of the supplier of services) and art. 20 (remedies for defective services)
  4. Decreto nº 7.962/2013Decreto nº 7.962, de 15 de março de 2013 (regulamenta o CDC para a contratação no comércio eletrônico)arts. 2-5 — mandatory supplier information, clear presentation of the contract, and an immediate electronic means of exercising the art. 49 withdrawal right

Sources

Where a figure is indexed, converted or published by a regulator rather than fixed in the instrument, the provenance is recorded separately. Anything marked as a modelled estimate is exactly that — a model, not a statutory number.

What it imposes

Clocks, defences and the ladder.

A rule module builds these while it evaluates, because a limitation period depends on which forum is open to you. What follows is the structure this regime produces — deliberately with no dates and no figures, because those belong to your facts rather than to the law.

The clocks it starts

  • Direito de arrependimento (7 days)Art. 49 gives you seven days to withdraw from any contract concluded away from the supplier's premises — which covers every online, telephone and doorstep purchase — counted from signing the contract or from receiving the goods or service, whichever is later. No reason is required and no penalty may be imposed. Amounts already paid must be returned immediately and monetarily adjusted. Decreto 7.962/2013 requires online suppliers to provide an immediate electronic means of exercising it.Código de Defesa do Consumidor, art. 49 — art. 49 — direito de arrependimento: seven days from signing or receipt where the contract was concluded away from the establishment, with refund of amounts paid, monetarily adjustedNotice period
  • Prescrição (5 years)Fatal if missedArt. 27 sets a five-year prescription for claims for damages caused by defective products or services, running from knowledge of the damage and of its author. Shorter decadência periods in art. 26 (30 or 90 days) apply to complaints about apparent defects, so raise defects immediately even though the damages claim runs longer.Limitation period

What it entitles you to, beyond money

  • Danos morais where the treatment went beyond mere inconvenienceBrazilian courts award moral damages for consumer treatment that crosses from annoyance into humiliation or prolonged distress — repeated undue charges, being sent round a call-centre for months, being negativado (listed with a credit bureau) over a disputed amount. Wrongful credit listing is close to an automatic award.art. 14 (strict liability of the supplier of services) and art. 20 (remedies for defective services)
  • The burden of proof can be reversed in your favourArt. 6, VIII allows the judge to reverse the burden of proof in the consumer's favour where the allegation is plausible or the consumer is hypossuficiente. In a card dispute this matters enormously: the supplier has the transaction records and you do not.art. 14 (strict liability of the supplier of services) and art. 20 (remedies for defective services)

What the other side will say

Each of these is a refusal this regime lets a counterparty attempt, paired with the answer to it. Reading them before you write is worth more than any amount of polish on the letter itself.

"Foi um engano justificável"

high likelihood

The supplier accepts the charge was wrong but says it was an excusable error, defeating the doubling.

What answers it

Engano justificável must be proved by the supplier and is construed narrowly: a systems failure the supplier controls, or a repeated charge after the consumer complained, is not excusable. Point to the date you first complained — everything charged after that cannot be an innocent mistake.

Código de Defesa do Consumidor, art. 42, parágrafo único — art. 42, parágrafo único — repetição do indébito em dobro, acrescido de correção monetária e juros legais, salvo hipótese de engano justificável

"Our policy does not allow cancellation"

high likelihood

The supplier relies on its own terms to refuse the seven-day withdrawal.

What answers it

Art. 49 is a norm of public order and art. 51 renders void any term that waives or restricts a consumer right. A cancellation policy cannot override it, and Decreto 7.962/2013 requires online suppliers to provide the means of exercising it electronically.

Código de Defesa do Consumidor, art. 49 — art. 49 — direito de arrependimento: seven days from signing or receipt where the contract was concluded away from the establishment, with refund of amounts paid, monetarily adjusted

Where to take it next

  1. Written demand to the supplier and to the card issuerSend a reclamação in writing citing art. 49 (if within seven days), art. 42 parágrafo único for the doubling, and Decreto 7.962/2013 for the online-contracting duties. Ask the card issuer for a contestação de compra in parallel.Claim directtypically 10 days
  2. consumidor.gov.brThe federal government's own online dispute platform. Participating companies — which includes every large bank, airline, telecom and retailer — commit to responding within ten days, and the resolution rate is high. It is free, it takes ten minutes, and the record is admissible if you later go to court.Alternative dispute resolutiontypically 10 daysofficial page
  3. ProconThe state or municipal consumer protection body. Procon can mediate, and can fine the supplier — which is why suppliers settle Procon complaints they have ignored for months. For a bank, the Banco Central also takes complaints.Regulatortypically 45 days
  4. Juizado Especial CívelBrazil's small-claims court. Claims up to twenty times the minimum wage need no lawyer and cost nothing to file at first instance. This is where art. 42 doublings and moral damages are actually awarded, and the process is fast by Brazilian standards.Small claimstypically 120 days

Documents

What this regime can produce.

Every one of these is a document you send yourself, in your own name. Duesday never writes to anybody on your behalf and is never anyone’s agent.

The same claim type elsewhere

Card scheme chargeback rules (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover)SCHEMESupranational — party states varyVisa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service RulesConfidence: mediumPSD2 — unauthorised transactions and direct-debit refunds (Directive (EU) 2015/2366)EUSupranational — 30 countriesDirective (EU) 2015/2366 (PSD2)Confidence: highNorway — Financial Contracts Act 2020 and FinansklagenemndaNONational — NorwayLov om finansavtaler (finansavtaleloven), LOV-2020-12-18-146Confidence: mediumRussia — Federal Law 161-FZ on the National Payment System and the financial ombudsmanRUNational — RussiaФедеральный закон от 27.06.2011 № 161-ФЗ «О национальной платежной системе», ст. 9Confidence: mediumSwitzerland — Financial Services Act ombudsman affiliation and the Swiss Banking OmbudsmanCHNational — SwitzerlandFinancial Services Act (FinSA / FIDLEG), SR 950.1Confidence: mediumTürkiye — Bank Cards and Credit Cards Law No. 5464 and the Consumer Arbitration CommitteesTRNational — TürkiyeBanka Kartları ve Kredi Kartları Kanunu No. 5464Confidence: mediumConsumer Credit Act 1974 s.75 (and s.75A) — creditor joint and several liabilityGBNational — United KingdomConsumer Credit Act 1974, s.75Confidence: highCanada — payment card codes of conduct, provincial consumer protection and OBSICANational — CanadaCode of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in CanadaConfidence: medium

Other rights in the same countries

Brasil — Sistema de Valores a Receber (SVR), Banco Central do BrasilBRNational — BrazilLei n° 14.973, de 16 de setembro de 2024Confidence: lowBrazil — ação civil pública and the CDC collective actionBRNational — BrazilLei nº 8.078/1990 (Código de Defesa do Consumidor), arts. 81-104Confidence: mediumBrazil — caução locatícia (Lei nº 8.245/1991, arts. 37–38)BRNational — BrazilLei nº 8.245/1991, art. 37Confidence: highBrazil — CDC price information and repetition of the undue chargeBRNational — BrazilLei nº 8.078/1990 (Código de Defesa do Consumidor), arts. 6, 31 and 42Confidence: mediumBrazil — Código de Defesa do Consumidor art. 49 and the e-commerce decreeBRNational — BrazilCódigo de Defesa do Consumidor, Lei nº 8.078/1990, art. 49Confidence: highBrazil — CorreiosBRNational — BrazilCódigo de Defesa do Consumidor, Lei nº 8.078/1990, and the Correios service regulationsConfidence: lowBrazil — Operator conditions of carriage with the Código de Defesa do ConsumidorBRNational — BrazilCódigo de Defesa do Consumidor, Lei nº 8.078/1990Confidence: lowBrazil — planos de saúde, the ANS rol de procedimentos and the consumer routeBRNational — BrazilLei nº 9.656, de 3 de junho de 1998Confidence: medium

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Not a law firm. Not legal advice. You send it yourself. This page describes a law; it is not advice about your situation and no outcome is promised.