CADE is in top six world's best antitrust agencies

For the first time, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) received 4.5 starts in the Rating Enforcement 2025, elaborated by the British journal Global Competition Review (GCR), one of the leading international publications specialised in competition law and policy.

The result places the agency among the six best antitrust agencies in the world, alongside authorities from the European Union, Germany, Australia, France, and South Korea.

The Rating Enforcement is an independent annual assessment that compares the performance of the world's leading antitrust authorities. The survey considers criteria such as technical precision in the decisions, volume and complexity of merger reviews, investigation and punishment of cartels, performance on unilateral conducts, transparency, regulatory innovation, and international engagement. The rating ranges from one to five stars and it is a global benchmark for measuring the effectiveness and credibility of competition agencies.

For Mr Gustavo Augusto, president of CADE, this recognition symbolises a milestone in the antitrust authority's history. “Achieving a 4.5-star rating in the GCR raking for the first time is a historic moment for CADE. This result is the outcome of the commitment of our civil servants, the technical excellence that guides our decisions, and the dedicated work in recent years. Being one of the six best antitrust agencies in the world also shows that now Brazil has a modern, transparent agency, prepared to face the challenges of digital and global markets,” he stated.

In its assessment, the GCR recognised CADE as the leading antitrust authority in Latin America, emphasising the balance between technical precision, innovation, and international engagement.

The journal highlighted that in the last year, the Brazilian agency analysed 712 mergers, launched 73 new investigations into anticompetitive conducts, concluded 16 cartel cases with fines, and expanded its global profile when it hosted the annual conference of the International Competition Network (ICN) and headed the BRICS working group on digital markets. In addition, the publication emphasised CADE's digital transformation with initiatives such as e-Notifica and the strengthening of the Leniency Programme, which received 46 requests in 2024.