A vítima da relação de consumo no Código de Defesa do Consumidor = The victim in the relation between consuption in the consumer protection code

Abstract

Uma das principais inovações trazidas pelo Código de Defesa do Consumidor foi a equiparação de determinadas figuras à condição de consumidor, mesmo não havendo relação de consumo direta. Entre elas encontramos: a coletividade de pessoas (artigo 2.º); todas as pessoas determináveis ou não, expostas às práticas previstas (artigo 29) e a vítima da relação de consumo (artigo 17). A proteção à vítima da relação de consumo teve sua origem no direito norte-americano e é chamado de "bystander", quando se reconheceu que a garantia do produto concedida pelo fornecedor atinge até o usuário final, independentemente da existência de relação entre este e o fornecedor/fabricante. No direito pátrio optou-se por equiparar a vítima à condição de consumidor.

The Consumer Protection Code, passed on September 12th, 1990, regulates the consumer relations which had been regulated by the Civil Code and by some dispersed laws. One of the main innovations incorporated in the code was the leveling of certain characters to the condition of consumer, even if there is no direct consumer relation. Among those characters we find: "people collectively, albeit undetermined, that intervene in the consume relations (art. 2); all the people, determined or not, exposed to the expected use (art. 29) and the victim of the consume relation (art. 17)", which is the object of this paper. The protection to the victim if the consumer relation had its origin in North American law, where such a victim, called "bystander", received special attention after the Supreme Court decision in "Hennigen vs. Bloomfield", since it was recognized that the manufacturer's guarantee reaches up to the final user, regardless the direct relation between him/her and the manufacturer/seller. In the Brazilian law there was an explicit option toward levelling the victim to the condition of consumer. The victim can be defined as being one who is involved in accidents with product or resulting from services, who is not a buyer, but is close by when the defect manifests itself, being a mere spectator. Thus, we see that the concept of the third party, victim of the consumer relation, must extended to all possible cases to which it can be applied, in accordance to the extension of the concept of consumer proclaimed by the Consumer Protection Code, lest it becomes vain.