Leather Law Blitz: see the final balance in the state of Minas Gerais

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Over 2,000 stores, 22 shopping centers and 11 car dealerships were visited. A major operation was carried out in Minas Gerais to extend knowledge about Law 4.888 / 65, which determines that only articles made of animal skin can be called "leather". Called the Leather Law Blitz, this action was led by the Centre for the Brazilian Tanning Industry (CICB), with a team of agents to clarify details about legislation, correct errors and refer offenders to consumer protection agencies.

Fashion and automotive retail segments of capital city Belo Horizonte (and the metropolitan region) were the main targets of this edition of Blitz. Erroneous terms such as "organic leather", "synthetic leather" and "technological leather" were some of the most seem – about 60% of places that market synthetic articles committed these infractions when identifying their merchandise. Some of these errors were immediately corrected: salespeople were instructed to cross out the word “leather” on the tags.

According to Ricardo Michaelsen, project coordinator, shopping center stores registered fewer occurrences than those located in street commerce, and the reason is related to the work the CICB has been developing with the larger retail networks. "Branches visited in other states or alerted by our Internet monitoring team do a capillary correction, communicating to all their units at once," explains Michaelsen, who traveled some 4.7 thousand kilometers in this edition of Blitz in a fully marked car, calling the attention of the national media in privileged places. The coordinator also had an official visit to Procon (Brazilian Consumer Protection Agency)  scheduled on his agenda to forward them the cases that were resistant to the law.

The Blitzes will continue this semester, following on in June to Rio de Janeiro. To know more about the project, denounce, or to follow along, visit www.cicb.org.br/leidodo-couro

Summary of the Leather Law Blitz in Minas Gerais:

2.294 stores visited

22 shopping centers

6 fairs

11 car dealerships

4.703 km traveled