Brazil — ação civil pública and the CDC collective action

What it entitles you to, beyond money

• You are in by default — and you can leaveThe Brazilian model is asymmetric in the consumer's favour and this is its defining feature. Under art. 103 CDC a favourable collective judgment benefits individual consumers erga omnes without their having to join, while an unfavourable one does not bar them from bringing their own claims. The one trap is art. 104: a consumer who already has an individual action pending must apply to stay it within thirty days of being notified of the collective action, or they cannot take the benefit of a favourable collective judgment.art. 81 — collective defence of diffuse, collective and homogeneous individual rights; art. 82 — standing, which belongs to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Public Defender's Office, the federal, state and municipal governments and their agencies, and associations constituted for at least one year whose objects include consumer protection; art. 103 — res judicata operates erga omnes in favour of individuals but a dismissal does not prejudice their individual claims; art. 104 — an individual who has their own action pending must ask for it to be stayed within thirty days of notice of the collective action in order to benefit from a favourable collective judgment
• Ask a body with standing to take it upThe Ministério Público, the Defensoria Pública, the federal, state and municipal governments and their agencies, and associations constituted for at least one year whose statutory objects include consumer protection. An individual consumer cannot bring one. A consumer organisation will not act on one complaint, but it will act on a pattern, and its case starts with people reporting the same thing. Your individual claim under whatever substantive law applies is unaffected and usually faster.art. 81 — collective defence of diffuse, collective and homogeneous individual rights; art. 82 — standing, which belongs to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Public Defender's Office, the federal, state and municipal governments and their agencies, and associations constituted for at least one year whose objects include consumer protection; art. 103 — res judicata operates erga omnes in favour of individuals but a dismissal does not prejudice their individual claims; art. 104 — an individual who has their own action pending must ask for it to be stayed within thirty days of notice of the collective action in order to benefit from a favourable collective judgment
• Your own individual claim is still thereCollective redress is an alternative route, not a replacement. Unless you are bound by a judgment or a settlement in a collective action, your individual claim under the ordinary law survives, and for a small sum it is usually the faster route. Check the other regimes in this result.

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.

Where to take it next

1. 01Report it to Senacon / Procon (state consumer protection agencies)Collective actions start as patterns in a regulator's or consumer body's complaint data. A single report is free, takes minutes, and is the only mechanism by which a case like yours becomes a case at all. It does not give you money and should not be mistaken for a claim.Regulator·typically 60 days·official page
2. 02Run your own individual claim in parallelDo not wait for a collective action. They take years, most never certify, and the individual routes in this result run on their own limitation periods that keep expiring while you wait. If a collective action later covers the same loss you simply give credit for anything already recovered.Claim direct·typically 30 days