Overconsumption by Christopher Dombres (Public Domain)

Ecuador Approves Law Against Planned Obsolescence

Public procurement will be affected under new legislation

On December 2016, Ecuador published in their Official Register the recently approved law, entitled the “Organic Code for the Social Economy of Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation”. The Law, which focuses mainly on Intellectual Property, Higher Education and Innovation, includes a general disposition against Planned Obsolescence.

Planned Obsolescence is a common market practice where the manufacturers deliberately reduce the life cycle of a given good to increase sales. While the subject is controversial, to say the least, countries like France have adopted an active approach to reduce this practice. In 2015, this country made planned obsolescence a felony punishable with up to two years of jail plus a fine of 300,000 euros.

Ecuador didn’t want to stay behind and requested its public institutions to make an ex-post control of all public procurement to search for any sign of planned obsolescence. The felony, which is defined in the law as “the set of techniques by which a manufacturer, importer or distributor of goods deliberately and unreasonably reduces its duration, in the creation or through the modification of the product, in order to increase its replacement rate,” is punishable with both administrative and penal sanctions. In addition, the providers who sold the products won’t be able to sign contracts with the State ever again.

The last paragraph of the disposition hints towards regulation among citizens’ transactions as well. While this might seem extreme, chances are time will pass before the current institutions adapt its norms for verification. New legislation might be required as well to make the measures effective.