Legal obligation
- Consumer Protection Law No. 181 of 2018 requires a supplier to notify the Consumer Protection Agency of any product defect and its potential harm within seven days of discovering it.
- If the defect threatens a consumer's health or safety, the supplier must notify the Agency immediately, warn consumers through the media, and stop producing and circulating the product.
- Piperona complies with these provisions, and the merchant must cooperate fully in implementing them.
Governing rule: Where there is a serious concern about the safety of a product intended for children, the listing is suspended first and the verification follows. Preventive action does not wait for harm to be proven.
When this policy is activated
- An official decision by a regulatory authority to recall the product or prohibit its circulation.
- A notice from the manufacturer, supplier, or brand owner recalling a batch or product.
- A customer complaint reporting harm or danger from using the product.
- Repeated complaints about the same product indicating a defect across an entire batch.
- An internal review finding that the product does not meet requirements.
- Confirmation that the product is counterfeit, expired, or inconsistent with its listed information.
Action levels
| Level | When it applies | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Listing suspension | A concern that requires verification | Hiding the product and refusing new orders, without action toward customers who already purchased it |
| Market withdrawal | A defect or breach is confirmed | Suspending the listing, stopping shipments in transit, notifying purchasers, and refunding the product price |
| Public recall | A risk to the user's health or safety | All of the above, plus immediate notification to the Agency and a public warning through the media and platform channels |
Procedure and deadlines
Immediately upon notice
Suspend the product. Hide the product from the platform, stop accepting new orders for it, and suspend every product from the same merchant and batch, where applicable.
Immediately upon notice
Notify the Agency in case of danger. If the defect threatens a user's health or safety, notify the Consumer Protection Agency immediately without waiting for verification to be completed.
Within 24 hours
Assess the impact. Identify orders in which the product was shipped, shipments still in transit, quantities held by the merchant, and the batch number, where available.
Within 24 hours
Stop active shipments. Coordinate with the shipping company to stop and return shipments containing the product.
Within 48 hours
Notify affected customers. Send a direct message to every purchaser explaining the reason for the recall, what they should stop doing, and how to return the product and obtain a refund.
Within 48 hours
Notify the merchant. Provide a statement identifying the product, reason for recall, affected orders, actions taken, and resulting costs, with a deadline to respond.
Within 7 days
Notify the Agency in non-danger cases. Notify the Consumer Protection Agency of the defect and its potential harm within the time limit prescribed by law.
Ongoing
Return and refund. Receive returned products at Piperona's expense, refund customers, and send a second notice to customers who do not respond.
At closure
Closure report. Record the number of units sold and recovered, action taken, cause of the defect, measures required to prevent recurrence, and whether the merchant relationship will continue.
Customer rights
- The customer receives a full refund for the recalled product.
- This applies regardless of whether the return period under the Returns Policy has expired.
- It also applies if the packaging has been opened or the product used, and even if the product belongs to a non-returnable category.
- The customer bears no shipping cost for returning the recalled product.
- This does not affect the customer's right to compensation for any harm suffered, as provided by law.
This section prevails over the Returns Policy in the event of a conflict. A recalled product is returnable in all cases, even if it belongs to a category normally excluded from returns for health reasons.
Merchant responsibility and costs
- The merchant must notify Piperona immediately upon learning of a defect, risk, or recall decision affecting any of its products.
- The merchant must provide the batch, supplier and manufacturer information, and required documents within the specified period.
- The merchant bears the costs of the recall, product refunds, and return shipping where the reason for the recall is attributable to the merchant or its product.
- The merchant does not bear these costs if the recall is proven to have resulted from an error by the platform or shipping company.
- The merchant account may be suspended during investigations involving safety risks or counterfeiting.
- The merchant may challenge the decision and costs in accordance with the published appeal process.
Documentation and records
- Every recall is assigned a reference number. Its file records the reason, correspondence, notices, and decisions.
- Recall records are retained for at least five years.
- Piperona makes these records available to regulatory authorities upon request.
- Piperona periodically reviews recall cases to update prohibited and restricted product lists and verification procedures.
This policy forms an integral part of the agreement to join the Piperona platform and must be read together with the Prohibited and Restricted Products Policy and the Returns Policy.
This policy is governed by Egyptian law, particularly Consumer Protection Law No. 181 of 2018 and its Executive Regulations.