Consumer protection in Guinea

Guinea's consumer-protection framework treats a consumer as an individual or legal entity using marketed goods or services, whether or not a contract exists. A supplier or other business placing a product or service on the market must provide fair information, support safe use and meet applicable quality and conformity requirements. Dangerous goods may be detained, seized, withdrawn or barred from sale by the competent ministries and authorities. Fraudulent conduct can also lead to criminal proceedings. The main general institutions are the Ministère de l'Industrie et du Commerce, especially the Direction Nationale du Commerce Intérieur et de la Concurrence (DNCIC), the Office National de Contrôle de Qualité (ONCQ) and the Institut Guinéen de Normalisation et de Métrologie (IGNM). The DNCIC handles aspects of the domestic market, prices and availability. The ONCQ addresses product and food quality. The IGNM is relevant to weighing instruments, measuring devices, fuel pumps and other measurement accuracy disputes. General consumer complaints may also be submitted to Union des Consommateurs de Guinée (UCG) or Association de Lutte contre la Vie Chère (ALVOC) for assistance or mediation. Their intervention does not automatically create a binding decision. For ordinary purchases, keep the receipt, payment proof, product information, photographs and all messages with the seller. A written réclamation, meaning a documented consumer complaint, normally goes first to the seller or service clientèle. If the seller does not resolve it, UCG or ALVOC can help, followed by the DNCIC, ONCQ, IGNM, another competent regulator or the courts. No generally applicable fee or response deadline for ordinary consumer complaints has been evidenced. Guinea also has no single recall portal covering all products. Food safety has additional requirements under L/2021/033/AN. Businesses involved in producing, storing, transporting or selling food may require an agrément sanitaire, a health approval for those activities. Hygiene, safe food, controls and traceability of imported and locally produced food are relevant. The ONCQ conducts campaigns against unsuitable products, while the competent health and trade authorities can take enforcement measures. A suspected unsafe food product should be reported to the seller and the relevant health or quality authority, with the packaging, batch details and purchase evidence preserved. Contracts and digital offers must provide loyal and understandable information about the product or service, price, contractual conditions, delivery and electronic evidence. Guinea's researched consumer law does not establish a general statutory withdrawal or refund standard for every purchase. Refunds, cancellation and return rights therefore depend strongly on the contract and sector rules. Online purchasing complaints should first go to the provider and may then be referred to the Autorité de Régulation des Postes et Télécommunications (ARPT) or a consumer association. Data-protection and cybersecurity incidents are separate from an ordinary purchase complaint and may involve the national cyber authorities, ANSSI or CERT, or the national reporting channel DJAMA SUTURA. Financial-service complaints fall under the oversight of the Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée (BCRG). Banks and microfinance institutions should generally be approached first. For electronic money and mobile-money services, providers should publish product and fee information, identify agents, issue transaction receipts, protect confidential customer data, retain at least the ten most recent transactions and provide cancellation or withdrawal periods under the applicable service rules. A complaint must be recorded and handled within a maximum of 30 days under the researched electronic-money customer-protection framework. If the provider or agent does not resolve the matter, the customer can use the competent BCRG or consumer-association process. No general BCRG consumer portal or unified banking ombudsman has been evidenced. For air travel, the Autorité Guinéenne de l'Aviation Civile (AGAC) supervises passenger rights. The airline must identify the actual carrier, and cases involving denied boarding, cancellation or delay can raise information, assistance and compensation issues under the applicable aviation rules. A liability claim against an air carrier has a maximum period of two years. The airline should be contacted first, followed by AGAC or the courts when the matter remains unresolved. A separate national aviation complaint portal and general complaint deadline have not been evidenced. Electricity and drinking-water users can use the sector process through the Autorité de Régulation des Services Publics de l'Electricité et de l'Eau Potable (AREE). The user should send at least two registered letters to the service provider. If there is no answer or no adequate answer within one month, the matter can be submitted to AREE. A matter without an initiated action is subject to a maximum period of three years under the researched rules. The framework provides for sanctions and judicial review, but no general compensation standard for every interruption, prepaid-meter dispute or billing error has been evidenced. Health products include medicines, medical devices, cosmetics, hygiene products and food supplements. Law L/2018/024/AN provides for authorisation, quality control of each batch, market surveillance and pharmaceutical inspection. The Ministère de la Santé, the Direction Nationale de la Pharmacie et du Médicament (DNPM), the Agence Nationale de la Sécurité Sanitaire (ANSS) and national control laboratories are relevant authorities. A certificate for placing a health product on the market requires a file that can include the RCCM, an ONCQ or IGNM quality certificate, a trader card and a tax identification number. The researched public service is listed as free and approximately ten days for that authorisation service; this does not describe the time or cost of a consumer complaint. Unsafe or falsely presented health products should be reported through the pharmacy or seller, health authorities or a consumer association, while the packaging and batch information are retained. Suspected fraud should be documented before any further payment or contact that could destroy evidence. The police, the public prosecutor's office or the courts can receive a criminal report, while the seller, consumer association or sector regulator may be contacted in parallel. Under Law L/2016/059/AN, ordinary fraud under article 403 can carry one to five years of imprisonment and a fine of GNF 1,000,000 to GNF 50,000,000. Qualified cases can reach seven years and GNF 100,000,000. Food fraud under article 454 can carry three months to three years of imprisonment and a fine of GNF 1,000,000 to GNF 10,000,000. Law L/94/003/CTRN also addresses deception about quantity, origin, nature, composition, risks or use. Consumer protection in Guinea is most practically relevant to food, prices and measurements, mobile money and telecommunications, electricity, medicines and fraud. Coverage is less clearly evidenced for general hotel disputes, private health services, ordinary online commerce and other sectors without a dedicated complaint process. Banking, contract law and shopping may appear as parts of a consumer problem, but they do not replace the need to identify the responsible provider, sector authority and available evidence for the specific dispute.