APPLICATION OF INVERSION OF THE BURDEN OF PROOF IN ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTIONING PROCESSES, FOR VIOLATION OF PROVISIONS OF THE CONSUMER PROTECTION CODE: NOTES TO ENSURE BROAD DEFENSE

Abstract

This article analyzes the need to reverse the burden of proof in administrativeproceedings to sanction consumer standards, in order to ensure a broad defense, highlightingthe moment in which it should occur, and how it should be formalized in the proceduralrecords. To this end, a cursory analysis of the Consumer Defense Code is made, in relation tothe administrative sanctioning proceedings that are processed in the consumer defenseprosecutors' offices of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of Ceará, based on state andfederal legislation. In order to indicate how and when the burden of proof should be reversed,it was necessary to analyze the definition of a process, the conceptualization of anadministrative process and the specification of one of its types: the administrative sanctioning process. The principles of full defense, due legal process and adversarial proceedings werealso highlighted, which must be observed together. Without observance of due legal process,there is no way to speak of adversarial proceedings, and without these, there is no way toensure full defense. Therefore, the need for prior knowledge of the reversal of the burden ofproof, not only before the decision, but to enable a full defense, is necessary, so that thesupplier can present arguments that refute the facts alleged by the consumer. Sanctioningwithout guaranteeing constitutional precepts reveals an act that violates the legal system thatmust be immediately combated and invalidated.