On the protection of consumer rights. Law of the Russian Federation dated 02/07/1992 N 2300-1 2021. Latest edition

1. Citizens have the right to unite on a voluntary basis into public associations of consumers (their associations, unions), which carry out their activities in accordance with the Federal Law “On Public Associations” and their charters.

2. Public associations of consumers (their associations, unions), in cases provided for by the charters of these associations (their associations, unions), have the right:

participate in the development of requirements for the safety of goods (works, services), as well as standards establishing mandatory requirements in this area, draft laws and other legal acts of the Russian Federation regulating relations in the field of consumer protection;

conduct an independent examination of the quality and safety of goods (works, services);

check compliance with consumer rights and the rules of trade, consumer and other types of consumer services, draw up acts on identified violations of consumer rights and send these acts for consideration to authorized government bodies, participate, on behalf of consumers, in conducting examinations on facts of violation of consumer rights; (as amended by Federal Law No. 212-FZ of December 17, 1999)

submit to federal executive authorities and organizations proposals on measures to improve the quality of goods (work, services), discontinuation of production, withdrawal from circulation of goods (work, services) that are dangerous to the life, health, property of consumers and the environment;

participate jointly with federal executive authorities in monitoring the application of regulated prices;

submit to the prosecutor's office and federal executive authorities materials on bringing to justice persons guilty of the production and sale of goods (performance of work, provision of services) that do not meet the established requirements for the safety and quality of goods (work, services), as well as violation of rights consumers established by laws or other legal acts of the Russian Federation;

contact the prosecutor's office with requests to bring protests to invalidate acts of federal executive authorities, acts of executive authorities of constituent entities of the Russian Federation and acts of local governments that contradict laws regulating relations in the field of consumer rights protection;

Judicial protection of consumer rights

If the consumer was still unable to restore his rights in pre-trial proceedings, or missed this procedure due to the time-lapse of events, he can exercise his constitutional right to go to court.

It should be noted once again that in order to go to court, in some cases the consumer must have grounds, in the form of compliance with the claim procedure. Part 1 of Article 17 of the Law indicates that the protection of consumer rights is carried out by the court. In practice, this provision means that if a consumer’s rights are violated and it is not possible to restore them pre-trial, he can go to court to protect his interests.

Tax Code (Article 333.36), exempts the consumer from paying state duty when filing a statement of claim. The legislator acted fairly here. After all, the consumer has already suffered from the fact that his rights were violated either by the seller or by a low-quality product. In addition, as mentioned above, all citizens are consumers, and for many, the state fee when filing a claim would be an obstacle to going to court. And of course, such a privileged attitude of the legislator on the issue of legal costs to consumers is an important element of consumer protection, because he can freely go to court in case of violation of his rights.

The Code of Civil Procedure in Part 7, Article 29, allows you to choose jurisdiction. Article 17 of the Federal Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” supplements this provision and clarifies the possibility of choosing a court for filing a claim.

The consumer may, at his choice, go to court at the following place:

location of the organization, and if the defendant is an individual entrepreneur,
his residence;
residence or stay of the plaintiff;
conclusion or execution of a contract.

Just as in the case of duties, the ability to choose a court is an element of consumer protection, as it allows him to choose the court based on territorial affiliation that is most convenient for him. After all, for example, it can be very difficult for elderly consumers to get to court, and this greatly affects the financial situation of citizens. Based on these two provisions, we can conclude that judicial protection of consumer rights is available to almost every citizen-consumer. It is necessary to remember the legal requirement to comply with jurisdiction when filing applications. Claims not exceeding 50 thousand rubles are filed in the magistrate’s court. If the price of the disputed legal relationship is higher than indicated, you should contact the district court.

A claim can be filed as follows:

directly to the court in person to the judge during reception hours;
sent by mail (registered mail with notification to the court address);
to the expedition department (office) of the relevant court.

To appeal to the court of first instance, the consumer must file a statement of claim, in compliance with the requirements of the law, established primarily by Article 131 of the Code of Civil Procedure and which must contain:

name of the court to which the application is filed;
the name of the plaintiff, his place of residence or, if the plaintiff is an organization, its location, as well as the name of the representative and his address, if the application is submitted by a representative;
the name of the defendant, his place of residence or, if the defendant is an organization, its location;
what is the violation or threat of violation of the rights, freedoms or legitimate interests of the plaintiff and his demands;
the circumstances on which the plaintiff bases his claims and evidence supporting these circumstances;
the price of the claim, if it is subject to assessment, as well as the calculation of the collected or disputed amounts of money;
information about compliance with the pre-trial procedure for contacting the defendant, if this is established by federal law or provided for by the agreement of the parties;
list of documents attached to the application.

The statement of claim must be signed by the plaintiff or his representative in the prescribed manner.

When talking about the application procedure, you should pay attention to the following questions. Firstly, the consumer’s lack of a sales or cash receipt does not deprive him of the right to go to court. Since the purchase and sale agreement in the retail trade system is usually concluded orally and the time of concluding the agreement coincides with its execution, the consumer, in accordance with Articles 159, 493 of the Civil Code, has the right to prove the fact of purchase of the goods with the help of witness testimony, which is assessed by the court in its entirety with all the evidence collected in the case. Another important issue is the institution of representation in court. Protection of rights in court can be advocated by both the consumer himself and local authorities, public consumer associations, the Prosecutor, the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare, the federal executive body (their territorial bodies) that carries out quality control and safety of goods (works, services). The listed bodies can bring claims in the interests of one consumer, a group of consumers or in the interests of an indefinite number of consumers (Part 3 of Article 17 of the Law). In this case, the plaintiffs are exempt from paying state fees. Also, based on the general rule, any capable citizen by power of attorney, lawyer, or legal representative can apply for the protection of consumer rights.

The consumer's requirements are of a civil law, essentially material nature, expressing personal interest based on the failure of the other party to the civil contract to fulfill its obligations. The consumer has the right to go to court regarding a violation of any of his rights established by law and subject to judicial review. The consumer's statement of claim may contain a demand for the recovery of certain sums of money (penalties, losses, harm, including moral damage, expenses incurred, amounts paid, etc.), as well as imposing on the defendant the obligation to eliminate the violation of consumer rights and fulfill it certain requirements, not to interfere with the exercise of specific rights, to stop illegal actions, etc. Specific requirements must be formulated based on the rights that are granted to the consumer by the Law and which are violated by the defendant.

It must be remembered that consumer disputes are subject to the general rules of limitation established by the Civil Code and the Code of Civil Procedure.

When going to court, the consumer can indicate a claim regarding the product provided for in Art. 18 of the Law, different from the requirements contained in the claim previously submitted to the defendant.

When the plaintiff has prepared all the documents and filed an application with the court, the case goes to a judge who can:

accept it for your production;
refuse to accept the statement of claim in the manner prescribed by Article 134 of the Code of Civil Procedure;
return the statement of claim in the manner prescribed by Article 135 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

In the last two cases, the judge issues a reasoned ruling, which can be appealed within ten days to a higher court through the judge who made the decision. At the same time, return, as well as refusal to accept the application, does not prevent the re-submission of the application.

If the consumer has complied with all legal requirements when going to court and the case is brought before a judge, the trial period begins. Without considering the preliminary hearing, which serves as preparation of the case for the hearing, we proceed directly to the main hearing.

In legal proceedings to protect consumer rights, the following must be proven:

the fact of refusal by the manager or other official of the trading place to carry out the above actions;
availability of a warranty period (expiration date) for this product;
the date the consumer notified the seller about the shortage of the product (the notification must be within the warranty period of the product);
the presence of losses incurred by the consumer due to the purchase of goods of inadequate quality;
other circumstances in a particular case.

When considering a case in court, the court's primary attention is drawn to the seller's compliance with the procedure for accepting goods specified in the law and establishing the causes of product malfunctions, as well as the deadlines for performing these actions. At this stage, the seller is obliged to prove the circumstances that are the basis for his objections to the consumer. If the court finds that the seller did not perform the actions required by law (receiving the goods, checking quality, transferring the goods to the consumer) or deliberately avoided performing them, then most likely further proceedings will be terminated and the court will satisfy the consumer’s demands. However, if the court has doubts, it may involve third parties. Such persons could, for example, be a service center. The plaintiff and defendant have the right to present to the court any evidence relevant to the case. In addition, they may involve witnesses.

Summarizing the above, we can distinguish the following groups of evidence:

a document confirming the purchase of goods at the relevant retail location. The consumer's absence of a cash or sales receipt or other document certifying the fact and conditions of purchase of the goods is not grounds for refusal to satisfy his requirements. However, the consumer has the responsibility to prove that the product was purchased at this particular retail location. Such evidence can include marks of sale in the product passport, a sales contract, a receipt, a waybill;
expert opinion. If, during the consideration of a dispute in court, questions arise that require special knowledge to resolve, at the request of either party the court may order an examination;
conclusion of the warranty service workshop on identified faults in technically complex products;
consumer's claim to the defendant with the specified requirements with a note confirming the fact of delivery of the claim to the seller;
response to the complaint. According to the general rules of civil law, the period within which the defendant must give a written response is set at one month;
evidence confirming consumer losses from using a product of inadequate quality.

When resolving consumer disputes regarding the quality of a product, the examination of the quality of the product plays a central role. This event resolves questions regarding the quality of the product, the causes and time of occurrence of defects, maintainability, the cost of repairing the product and a number of other issues. It goes beyond everyday concepts about the shortcomings of a product and provides a technical assessment of the condition of the object. An examination can be carried out at the request of the plaintiff or defendant, or it can be appointed. Due to the fact that it must be carried out without fail by the seller if a dispute arises about defects in the goods at the pre-trial stage, it is assumed that the court already has expert opinions. However, if the seller avoided carrying it out, this may be regarded as recognition of the goods by the seller himself as being of poor quality.

A more complex situation arises when the seller conducted an examination of the quality of the product, met the deadlines, and the examination established that the defects in the product were not the fault of either the manufacturer or the seller. Then the consumer, when going to court, will request a forensic examination of the quality of the product. But even after receiving the results of the examination, both parties can appeal it. So, for example, when considering one of the cases on consumer rights protection in one of the magistrates' courts in the city of Obninsk, two forensic examinations were carried out which gave completely different results. However, there may also be cases when conducting an examination of a product is impossible or makes no sense, although both parties need the results of the examination. Thus, if the seller accepted the goods from the consumer with a claim regarding the quality of the goods and a demand to refuse to fulfill the sales contract and repaired the goods without performing an examination, and in court referred to the insignificance of defects or their absence, a forensic examination would not make sense.

Although, if the product were technically complex and its defects were insignificant, the consumer would be deprived of the right to demand termination of the sales contract and a forensic examination would confirm the seller’s rightness. It is important to note that this procedural action is technically complex. It can only be carried out by accredited specialists. And for many types of goods such specialists exist in very few numbers. Therefore, this action is delayed for a very significant period, usually from one to three months. But there are also cases when, in order to delay the trial, the defendant declares disagreement with the previously conducted examination and petitions for a repeat examination. Then the responsibility to pay it lies with the applicant-respondent. Which may simply not pay for it. In the described case, the consideration of the case may drag on for five to six months, and if the defendant does not periodically appear at court hearings, then even for a year.

Despite the described importance of the examination, it is not the only evidence in the case. Documents and checks shed light on many issues at once. The absence of dates on documents or details of the parties complicates their assessment. Then the court has to interview witnesses and request cash register tapes from the tax authority. All this delays and complicates the consideration of the case, but as a rule, this does not allow the seller to escape responsibility and even entails more negative consequences for him.

Often in this category of cases, the court is guided by the customs of everyday circulation of goods. For example, the court will not accept as grounds for termination of warranty obligations the opening of a faulty electric stove and the insulation of conductive elements by the consumer himself. After all, in this case we are talking about the safety of the consumer and the safety of his property. And, in addition, the examination may well establish the reason for the short circuit in the electrical wiring even after it has been isolated by the consumer.

From the above it follows that the court, when considering a case on the protection of consumer rights, is guided by the entirety of information and evidence obtained during the consideration of the case.

When considering a case in court, the plaintiff has two rights that significantly strengthen his position.

The first is securing the claim. This right is given to the consumer by the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. It allows you to increase the chances of compensation for harm to the consumer and satisfaction of his claims. In practice, there are cases when, when contacting the seller with a request to repair a low-quality product, the seller begins to hide from the consumer and from compensation for damage caused to the consumer. It turns out that the consumer in such a situation risks fully suffering from the incorrectness of his actions. At the same time, the consumer is provided with a kind of guarantee of restoration of his interests.

The second provision of the law, which, although not as obvious as the first, protects the consumer in court, is the obligation, if the seller loses the case in court, to pay a fine in the amount of 50 percent of the amount awarded to the consumer to the state or municipal budget. This obligation is assigned to the seller (manufacturer) by part six of Article 13 of the Law. This provision of the law serves as a kind of warning signal for the seller (manufacturer), and makes him think about the advisability of challenging the consumer’s claims in court. Indeed, in some disputes the cost of the claim is very significant for the seller and without a fine. And an increase in liability by one and a half times can completely destroy a careless seller.

When going to court, the consumer primarily pursues the goal of restoring his violated rights. That is, get a quality product. Accompanying this is the requirement to pay a legal penalty and compensation for moral damage. In some cases, when damage is caused to the consumer when using a low-quality product, the latter has the right to demand compensation.

First of all, let's pay attention to the legal penalty. This type of civil liability is directly provided for by the Law (Articles 23, 23.1) and the Civil Code (Articles 330-332). The amount of the penalty is calculated based on the rate specified in the Law for each day of violation of the right. Despite the fact that the procedure for calculating the penalty is directly established by law, in practice the courts are guided by the explanation of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which orders the courts, when determining the amount of the penalty, to calculate it taking into account the provisions of Article 333 of the Civil Code, which allows the courts to reduce its amount. An absurd situation arises when the legislator indicated the exact amount of the penalty, but allowed the courts to reduce it by an unspecified amount. Therefore, even when the consumer proved the seller’s failure to fulfill his obligations, pointed out the inconveniences that arose due to the defendant’s violation of deadlines, and demanded a penalty provided for by law, the court will most likely reduce it to an amount that it considers justified.

Due to the purchase of a low-quality product, the inability to use it, relationships with the seller (which are not always pleasant), litigation, the consumer experiences certain inconveniences. He's just worried and nervous. And for older people, such experiences cause serious damage to health. They have to see doctors and buy medications, which means incurring additional expenses. And to compensate for these expenses and cover the damage caused by emotional distress, there is a consumer right to compensation for moral damage.

According to Article 151 of the Civil Code, moral harm is understood as physical or moral suffering caused to a citizen by actions that violate his personal non-property rights and other intangible benefits.

For the right to compensation for moral damage to arise, the following conditions must be present simultaneously:

the citizen’s experience of moral harm, that is, physical or moral suffering;
an unlawful action (inaction) of the harm-doer that violates the citizen’s non-property rights or encroaches on other intangible benefits belonging to the citizen;
a causal relationship between an unlawful action (inaction) and moral damage;
the fault of the harm-doer.

The cause of harm, in accordance with Article 15 of the Law, can be the manufacturer (performer, seller, authorized organization or authorized individual entrepreneur, importer). Consequently, compensation for moral damage can be directly assigned to each of these persons, who, in turn, are responsible for causing moral damage to the consumer as a result of their own actions (inaction) that are not part of the functions assigned to them under the contract with the manufacturer or seller of the goods. The responsibility to prove the absence of guilt lies with the inflictor of moral harm. He may also be released from liability if he proves that moral damage was caused by a violation of consumer rights caused by force majeure. The moral damage caused is compensated in monetary form. The amount of compensation is determined by agreement of the parties, and in case of a dispute - by the court and depends on the nature and extent of moral or physical suffering caused to the plaintiff, the degree of guilt of the defendant in each individual case, other circumstances worthy of attention, and cannot be made dependent on the amount of compensation claims for compensation for material damage, losses and other material claims. Compensation for moral damage is carried out regardless of compensation for property claims. The claim for compensation may be made independently or together with property claims.

Unfortunately, at present, domestic courts award consumers compensation for moral damages in extremely meager amounts. When the consumer-plaintiff is a family of pensioners, the suffering they experience due to the impudence of the seller and the lengthy trial is very deep. And compensation for damage caused, which can be in the amount of two to three thousand rubles, is very meager.

The result of the trial is a court decision. Despite the fact that the court satisfies the plaintiff’s request, quite often it takes an extremely long time to achieve the execution of this decision. If the court decision was not in favor of the consumer, then in accordance with current legislation, he has the right to appeal it to a higher court.

Of course, the court, being a last resort in protecting consumer rights, is also the most effective. The consumer, defending his rights in court, will most likely receive satisfaction of his claims. The only aggravating circumstance is that this can take a lot of time and effort, so many consumers do not go to court, not wanting to make changes to their usual schedule because of a product of low value. This indicates that sellers are hoping that the buyer is unwilling to defend their rights in court. But the court is a body that resolves consumer disputes. After the trial, the parties usually do not disagree on the issue of proper legal conduct. However, the drawback of the existing mechanism is the length of the trial. Since the consumer is deprived of the opportunity to use the product during the entire hearing in court, the length of the process negatively affects his rights. And a conscientious consumer who goes to court will most likely restore his rights and receive compensation caused to him by the seller’s improper behavior.

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