ANTITRUST & COMPETITION

Brazilian Federal Senate approves Commissioners nominations to CADE

On December 12, 2023, Brazil’s Federal Senate approved the nominations of Camila Cabral Pires Alves, Carlos Jacques Vieira Gomes, Diogo Thomson de Andrade and José Levi Mello do Amaral Júnior to hold the positions of Commissioners at the Tribunal of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (“CADE”), the Brazilian competition authority.

When the nominees finally take office, the minimum quorum for deliberations by CADE’s Tribunal will be restored. Indeed, CADE’s Tribunal has lacked a quorum since the departure of the fourth Commissioner in early-November, which has hindered the closure of deals approved by CADE’s General Superintendence and suspended all ruling sessions.

See below for more information about the approved nominees:

• Camila Cabral Pires Alves is an associate professor at the Institute of Economics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ. She holds master’s and PhD degrees in Economics from that same university. Camila held the position of CADE’s Chief Economist between 2011 and 2013;
• Carlos Jacques Vieira Gomes is a legislative consultant for the Federal Senate. He holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Brasília (UNB) and teaches at postgraduate courses. He participated in the drafting of Law No. 12,529/11, which structured the current Brazilian Competition Defense System;
• Diogo Thomson de Andrade is CADE’s current Deputy Superintendent and has been working at CADE since 2007. Diogo is a federal prosecutor and holds a master’s degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC/SP) and a PhD degree from the Brazilian Institute of Education, Development and Research (IDP);
• José Levi Mello do Amaral Júnior is Secretary General of the Presidency of the Superior Electoral Court and held the positions of Brazil’s Federal Attorney General and Attorney General of the National Treasury in the past. He holds a master’s degree from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRS) and a PhD degree from the University of São Paulo (USP), where he teaches Constitutional Law.

CADE develops a system that automates merger notifications

CADE announced the launch of e-Notifica, an automated system of pre-merger review. The e-Notifica system is expected to speed up the filing and review processes – as the tool is integrated with Federal Government and CADE’s databases – and to facilitate the payment of CADE’s filing fee.

MERCOSUR authorities launch Competition Yearbook of 2023

In November, the competition authorities from Paraguay (CONACOM), Uruguay (CPDC), Brazil (CADE), and Argentina (CNDC) officially launched the “Mercosur Competition Yearbook 2023” during the 11^th Annual Meeting of the Competition and Trade Working Group of the Latin-American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA).

The document is the result of the MERCOSUR authorities joint effort and aims to be a consultation platform for the Competition Law of MERCOSUR and each member state, and enhance communication and cooperation between MERCOSUR member states, fostering debate and exchange of ideas.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

SECEX issues new public interest assessment proceedings for trade defense measures

The Foreign Trade Secretariat (“SECEX”) issued a new regulation (SECEX Ordinance No. 282/2023) on the assessment of public interest (“API”) in the context of antidumping and compensatory measures investigations. This regulation, which deeply changes the current API that may prompt a suspension or change of definitive trade defense measures and the non-imposition of provisional measures based on “public interest” reasons, will come into force on January 1, 2024, and aims to simplify the API procedure and ensure a better allocation of public resources.

Among the changes, we highlight the following: (i) limitation of the API scope to two groups of concerns (i.a) “Social-Economic” and (i.b) “Suspension or Interruption of the National Supply”; (ii) the API will be concluded after the authority’s decision in the trade defense investigation; (iii) more efficiency in the authority’s analysis; and (v) introduction of new rules that regulate the procedures pertinent to requests for reapplication, extension or reassessment of the change and/or suspension of the decision based on public interest.

Brazilian Federal Senate approves Bolivia’s admission to MERCOSUR

On November 28, 2023, Brazil’s Federal Senate approved Bolivia’s admission to MERCOSUR, concluding the proceedings initiated through an adhesion protocol in 2015. To date, Bolivia was associated to MERCOSUR – as is Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, and Suriname –, but its acceptance as member required legislative approval by all MERCOSUR’s members and Brazil was the last one pending. Hereof, trade between Bolivia and Brazil is expected to rise.

Bolivia will be gradually integrated during the next four years and shall adapt its international trade policy. Specifically, the country will adopt MERCOSUR Common Nomenclature – NCM, as well as MERCOSUR’s Common External Tariff – TEC and Origin Regime. Moreover, Bolivia will revise its bilateral trade agreements according to MERCOSUR’s regulation; this shall embrace the termination of its agreement with Venezuela, suspended from the bloc since 2016.

Denise Junqueira
djunqueira@cascione.com.br

 Brazilian Competition Case Law, Trade & Trends | December 2023