Da vulnerabilidade do consumidor à vulnerabilidade ambiental: análise dos impactos da obsolescência programada no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to study the practice of planned obsolescence within the Brazilian legal system, taking into account its influence in the fields of environmental law and consumer law. The problematization raised is based on the following question: since programmed obsolescence is responsible for aggravating consumer and environmental vulnerabilities, encouraging irresponsible consumption and increasing solid waste disposal, which perspectives in current domestic law can be presented as a form to mitigate the negative effects of such practice? The preliminary hypotheses demonstrate an ambivalence of consumer protection against this type of market practice, since they guarantee the protection not only of this agent, but also of the environment, whose vulnerability is exacerbated by the continuous extraction of resources and the disordered garbage disposal. The choice of this theme is justified because of the risks to the environment and to humans, whose vulnerabilities are gradually increased as the interactions between these two actors develops more intensely and without the necessary safeguards. The main purpose was to analyze new legal approaches to the theme of planned obsolescence in Brazilian’s laws. Following such proposal, the specific objectives were to understand the risk society and the threats that increase the vulnerability of the consumer and the environment; analyze the postmodern paradigms that inform the institutes of current law, especially with regard to the figure of shared responsibility; study the feasibility of special regulations for planned obsolescence, as well as understand current proposals that guide consumption towards more sustainable paths. In relation to the theoretical framework, given the amplitude of the theme, which connects the areas of consumer law and environmental law, three reference works were chosen: "Contratos no Código de Defesa do Consumidor”, by Cláudia Lima Marques; "Macrorrelação ambiental de consumo - a responsabilidade pós-consumo e o princípio da reparação integral”, de Paulo Valério Dal Pai Moraes e “Dano ambiental: do individual ao coletivo extrapatrimonial ", by Paulo Valério Dal Pai Moraes and "Dano ambiental: do individual ao coletivo extrapatrimonial", by Patryck Araújo Ayala and José Rubens Morato Leite. All the writings selected bring contributions to specific points of the study, both with regard to the understanding of the consumer in the postmodern market and the cycle of products, as well as with regard to environmental issues, especially about the environmental liability. Finally, in relation to the methodology used for the elaboration of the study, it was decided to follow the argumentative method, which allowed the analysis and balancing of the principles ongoing, mainly about the principle of vulnerability, inherent to the consumer and to the environment.