Brazil
Decision · Judicial

Office of the Federal Prosecutor v. National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA)

Issue:

A public civil lawsuit [ação civil pública] against the National Health Surveillance Agency [Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (ANVISA)] due to irregularities on the labels of light and diet products .

Summary:

The Superior Court of Justice [Superior Tribunal de Justiça] decided in the special appeal [Recurso Especial] n. 1537571 that consumers have the right to be informed of variations of up to 20% of the nutritional values, based on the right to information under Brazilian consumer law, the Consumer Defense Code [Código de Defesa do Consumidor]. The Tribunal decided that ANVISA must demand that food labeling includes a warning that there may be a variation of 20% on the nutritional value indicated in the label.