FEDERASUL, the Rio Grande do Sul Retail Federation (FAGV) and the RS Retail Federation joined forces to ask the State Governor, Eduardo Leite, to veto Article 3 of Bill No. 378/2019, approved on Tuesday, 25, by the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Sul.
The aforementioned article imposes the obligation to record all telephone calls made to collect debts, with the need to store and make the recordings available to the consumer upon request.
Despite the recognition of the need to protect consumers against abusive practices, the requirement to record all telephone charges creates a significant obstacle for small and medium-sized business owners in Rio Grande do Sul.
According to the entities, this measure represents a new bureaucratic and financial barrier, especially at a critical time when many small businesses are recovering from losses caused by climate events and still face high rates of default.
The main argument of business entities is that the implementation of the measure will require substantial investments in infrastructure for recording, storing and making calls available, which could make the operation of many micro and small companies unfeasible, which, in most cases, carry out collections directly and without sufficient resources to cover such costs.
Furthermore, the entities emphasize that federal legislation already mandates call recording in regulated sectors such as telecommunications, banking, and customer service. This means that imposing a similar rule on all companies, without considering the size and characteristics of each business, can be excessive and disproportionate.
The request to veto Article 3 of Bill No. 378/2019 aims to preserve the economic viability of micro and small businesses in Rio Grande do Sul, which continue to play an essential role in generating jobs and income, especially in times of recovery after successive climate events.
