Consumer protection in Togo

The main general framework is Loi n°99-011 du 28 December 1999. It addresses price and sales information, invoices and receipts, misleading advertising and the refusal of legitimate sales. Sanctions can include temporary closure of a business for up to three months. Businesses must keep invoices for at least five years, and product descriptions, instructions, guarantees and invoices must use the official national language. Ask for an invoice immediately after a purchase. It should identify the parties and their addresses, date, product or service, quantity, unit and total price, TVA, discounts and payment terms. Loi n°99-011 does not provide a general return or withdrawal period for every purchase. A refund therefore depends on the contract, sector-specific rules or the facts of the individual case. The Direction du commerce intérieur et de la concurrence, known as DCIC, checks markets, product quality, prices, advertising and suspected commercial fraud. A consumer can call the free 8585 number to report suspicious, expired, counterfeit or unlabelled products and abnormal trading practices. Regional commerce offices operate in Maritime, Plateaux, Centrale, Kara and Savanes, but no general processing deadline is established for reports through 8585. The SAM secure fiscal vignette on certain drinks and tobacco products can be scanned to check authenticity and report an anomaly. A draft law approved by the Conseil des ministres on 2 April 2026 proposes an independent Commission nationale de protection des consommateurs, stronger transparency rules, controls on unfair practices and additional consumer rights. Its promulgation and operational start were not confirmed by September 2026, so the draft does not replace the rules currently in force. Digital and online sales are governed by Loi n°2017-007 and Décret n°2018-062. Before an order, a provider should disclose its identity and address, the main characteristics of the offer, the total price including taxes and charges, payment and delivery conditions, guarantees, any withdrawal right, return, exchange and refund rules, dispute procedures, privacy information and contract duration. The terms must remain accessible and reproducible. The provider must promptly confirm the order and give a complaint contact and after-sales service contact. Missing required information can allow the consumer to seek invalidity of the transaction. Telecom complaints go first to the provider. The provider has up to seven days to answer, after which a complaint can be sent to ARCEP, the electronic communications regulator, through 8000, *800#, WhatsApp at 96880000, an online form or email. An ARCEP complaint is free. ARCEP measures published in 2026 provide for unused voice or data volume to remain available when the customer renews the same offer: ten days for offers valid for up to ten days and thirty days for longer offers. They also require unified internet billing per byte, extend the period before SIM inactivity from three to six months and provide an advertising-SMS opt-out through *801#. For banks, microfinance institutions and mobile-money services, the customer should first complain to the financial provider. Under UMOA Instruction n°001-01-2024, the provider has up to seven working days to respond. The customer can then approach the Commission Bancaire de l’UMOA or seek national financial mediation through OQSF-TG, the body responsible for financial quality monitoring and mediation. Providers must give clear, free information about tariffs and services in the official language. The practical availability of every OQSF-TG filing channel is not fully documented. The Institut de protection des données à caractère personnel, or IPDCP, handles complaints about personal data. It can receive réclamations, pétitions and plaintes, and data subjects may request information, a copy of their data, correction and other applicable rights through ipdcp.tg or contact@ipdcp.tg. For cyber incidents and mobile-money fraud, ANCy and CERT.tg provide the national incident-reporting function. A suspected victim should never disclose a PIN or one-time code, should contact the official provider immediately and should change the access code. Reports can be made through cert.tg, [email protected] or +228 70 54 93 27, but recovery or reimbursement is not guaranteed. For electricity disputes, complain first to CEET or the relevant provider, keeping the customer and meter references. A written complaint may then be submitted to ARSE, the energy regulator, for matters involving billing, tariffs, penalties, delayed connection, supply quality, meters or electrical damage. Conciliation and arbitration through ARSE are voluntary, and ARSE does not cover a purely contractual dispute without an apparent breach of a law, concession or regulation. For medicines and other health products, a new national regulatory agency was approved by decree on 7 September 2026, but its name, contacts and consumer complaint process were not yet confirmed. Until a dedicated channel becomes operational, product and food anomalies can be reported to Commerce through 8585. The approval for imported, processed or locally produced food is a supplier-side authorisation and does not itself create an individual refund. For air travel, complain to the airline in writing first and keep the ticket, boarding pass, baggage document, payment record and correspondence. ANAC-Togo publishes passenger rules, but a dedicated consumer complaint channel, fixed compensation tables and complete deadlines were not confirmed in the available information. Under the Code of civil aviation, a claim against an air carrier generally has a two-year time limit. Consumer organisations such as LCT and ATC can provide information or collective support. LCT has an online complaint form and can be contacted at +228 98 77 66 46 or lctogo2013@gmail.com. For any complaint, preserve the invoice, contract, SMS, screenshots, payment evidence, serial or batch number, SAM vignette, customer or meter reference, dates and the provider’s response. Begin with the provider where a sectoral process requires it, then contact the responsible regulator or authority; report suspected criminal conduct additionally to ANCy/CERT.tg and law enforcement.