Mercado Livre Notified Over Fake License Plate Sales in São Paulo

Mercado Livre faces scrutiny from São Paulo's consumer protection body, Procon Paulistano, for allegedly facilitating the sale of counterfeit vehicle license plates. Investigations revealed listings for plates, including those adhering to the Mercosul standard, offered by sellers lacking official authorization.

The municipal agency has given Mercado Livre ten days to provide details on its monitoring processes for such advertisements and to report the number of irregular items removed in the past year. Furthermore, the platform is mandated to establish automatic systems to prevent unauthorized sellers from posting offers using official traffic-related terminology.

In addition to these measures, Mercado Livre must ensure all decorative plates clearly state they lack legal validity. The company is also required to block sales of replicas that mimic the size, colors, and fonts of official plates. Failure to comply with these directives could result in administrative proceedings and fines.

Procon Paulistano highlighted that such intermediated commerce, without proper checks, can mislead consumers, compromise road safety, and enable the circulation of items non-compliant with national traffic regulations. The issue is significant, with São Paulo's Smart Sampa system recording nearly 11,000 instances of vehicles with altered plates in just two months last year, many associated with the generic sequence "BRA 49CC."