(Brasilia) Apple will no longer be able to sell an iPhone without a charger in Brazil and will have to pay a fine of 2.45 million dollars, the Brazilian government announced on Tuesday, accusing the American firm of “discriminatory practices”.
Posted at 3:20 p.m.
“It has been decided to suspend, throughout the national territory, the sale of iPhone mobile phones not accompanied by battery chargers”, indicates the government in a press release, announcing that the measure was published on Tuesday in the Official Journal.
The National Consumer Secretariat (Senacon) had since December denounced the sale, from the iPhone 12, of devices without a charger.
Apple is being sued for “selling a product that is incomplete or lacking essential functionality, refusing to sell a complete product by discriminating against the consumer, and transferring liability to third parties,” according to the government statement.
The company was put on notice by public bodies in Brazil, but “to date has not taken any measures to minimize the damage and continues to sell mobile phones without chargers”, adds the government, specifying that A $2.45 million fine was imposed on Apple by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP).
According to Brazilian authorities, Apple claimed that not providing chargers with the phone was in response to an “environmental commitment”.
The American group, which intends to reduce its impact on the climate to zero by 2030, announced in October 2020 that headphones and chargers would no longer be included in the packages of the new iPhone 12, since many customers already had them. This measure is supposed to “reduce CO emissions2 and avoid using precious materials”, and also reduce the amount of packaging.
For the Senacon, “these arguments are insufficient, because the company’s decision to sell the devices without a charger ended up transferring all the burden on the consumer”. According to the agency, “the manufacturer could take other measures to reduce the environmental impact, such as the use of cables and chargers with USB-C connector, adopted as standard by the industry today”.
The government also judges that “there is no effective demonstration of environmental protection on Brazilian soil” and accuses Apple of “deliberate discriminatory practice against consumers”.
“If Apple persists in its violations, it can be considered a repeat offender, with the application of new, even more serious sanctions,” the government said in its press release. “The company can still appeal the decision,” he said.