The Senate's Committee on Transportation, Telecommunications, Public Services and Consumer Affairs, chaired by Sen. Hector Joaquín Sánchez Álvarez, held a hearing Tuesday on Senate Resolution 509, which seeks to examine the rules applying to commercial giveaways run through social media. The measure also aims to investigate how winners are selected, how prizes are delivered, and how participants are informed of terms and conditions.
Representatives of the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO), the Treasury Department (Hacienda), the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF), and giveaway promoters took part. Sánchez Álvarez said the industry will keep growing with technology and that the goal is to identify which functions should remain at DACO and which should fall to other agencies.
He noted some promoters are willing to be regulated, but responsibility for consumer protection and for safeguarding participants' personal data must be clearly defined. DACO backed the legislation and recommended reviewing whether its Commercial Practices Regulation needs clarification for digital promotions where buying a product grants one or more entries, and proposed coordinating with Hacienda and, where applicable, the Justice Department.
Hacienda said the probe should consider promoters' tax obligations and possible application of lottery and gambling laws, verify whether a genuine free way to enter exists, and identify who receives payments, how much revenue is generated, and how prizes are delivered. It clarified the Lottery Bureau lacks general authority to investigate or sanction all raffles run by third parties. OCIF supported the study from the perspective of financial transactions.