LatinNews Daily - 22 August 2023

* The Secretaria Nacional do Consumidor (Senacon), the consumer protection agency overseen by Brazil’s justice ministry, has announced that it will investigate the Brazilian travel agency 123milhas, which suspended a line of travel promotions on 18 August, resulting in the cancellations of trips from September to December. Senacon has demanded that the travel company clarify the reasons for suspending the promotional packages and the steps that would be taken to compensate customers. The only explanation that 123milhas gave its customers was a “persistence of adverse market conditions”. It offered customers travel vouchers, valid for up to 36 months, to compensate them for their cancelled holidays. According to a statement from Senacon, offering a voucher or coupon as the only means of compensation infringes existing consumer rights laws. The national consumer secretary Wadih Damous stated that “the argument that there had been a change in the economic scenario is not the problem of the consumer”, adding that “business risks belong to the company that offers its services”.