Migrations should have foreseen this contingency years ago, says the president of Aspec

Today was a chaotic Monday at Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport, as passport printing was stopped due to a failure in the system. This generated large queues and discomfort among travelers who were unable to travel due to the lack of this document. According to the head of migration, Jorge Fernández, this problem was not caused by the lack of passport books, but because the computer system failed and did not allow the printing of passports.

“It is already being printed at the airport, and we hope to resolve the contingency as soon as possible,” he noted.

He explained that when a passport book enters the printing system it is empty because there is no identification. “It doesn't become a passport, and that's the problem we have right now.”

In this regard, Crisologo Cáceres, president of the Peruvian Association of Consumers and Users (Aspec), said that the official explanation is that there was a general failure in the passport printing system, which caused many passengers to miss their flights. They argue that the aforementioned operating system is very old since it was purchased in 2014 and that it has not been updated and replaced by a better and more modern one. That's why he collapsed.

“The striking thing is that, years ago, Migraciones had to foresee this contingency and coordinate with the MEF for the purchase of a new platform. It is incomprehensible why it was not done,” said the specialist.

As for those affected, dozens of people missed their flights due to this failure. While others decided to pay the penalty to be able to move the date of their flights. One lady claimed to have paid more than 4,000 soles for that concept for the tickets of eight of her relatives.

Cáceres states that passengers cannot be harmed by an act completely alien to him because, precisely one of his rights under the Consumer Code, is the protection of his economic interests. In addition, in accordance with the Pro Consumer Principle, in any area of its action, the State exercises protective action in favour of consumers.

Consequently, he said that it is up to Migrations, which is part of the state apparatus, “to design and implement the measures that are necessary to ensure that injured consumers are compensated for which it is advisable that they coordinate with airlines. Otherwise, they will have to go to Indecopi.”

The head of migration said that work is being done on a project to be submitted to the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), which involves 301 million soles, which will allow the system of foreign suppliers to be updated and independent, and not rely on third parties for the issuance of passports.

STATE SERVICES

The head of Aspec states that the State is the main provider of services in the country and must ensure that these services are as suitable as possible. However, this is often not the case. “In such cases, consumers can request the complaint book. In this regard, it should be remembered that, in accordance with D.S. No. 042-2011-PCM, all public administration entities must have one”, he said.

In this case, the public entity is obliged to respond to the user, by physical or electronic means, within a maximum period of 30 working days, informing them, if any, of the measures taken to prevent the occurrence of similar events in the future.

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