Notícias
Event
CADE promotes second edition of event on fight against cartels
The Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) will hold the second National Week for the Fight against Cartels from 4–8 October. This year, discussions will focus on sharing experiences and intensifying actions against cartels in public procurement, serious violations that cause the government to purchase products and services at disadvantageous conditions.
The event features 17 experts to represent CADE, the Federal Prosecution Services (MPU), the OECD, the Office of the Comptroller General of Brazil (CGU), the Brazilian Institute of Studies on Competition, Consumer Affairs and International Trade (Ibrac), the Brazilian Bar Association, and professors of the field.
Sessions start at 10 a.m. every day and are streamed live via CADE's Youtube channel. Listeners who desire an attendance certificate should register on the event website by 1 October. Topics addressed include the new government procurement law, CADE's arrangement with public bodies in fighting cartels, and tools for detecting and deterring collusion in public tenders.
Mr Alden Caribé, who coordinates CADE's Leniency Programme and is one of the event's organisers, says the seminar intends to discuss the latest antitrust matters, exchange experiences and investigative techniques, and enhance the Brazilian institutions' responses to cartels.
When asked about the reason for specifically tackling the issue of cartels in public procurement, Mr Caribé argued: "Any cartel is harmful, as they hinder proper market functioning, but cartels in public procurement damage both the market and the Treasury". In this sense, the discussions should be constant and set out to reduce the waste of taxpayers' money.
Simultaneous translation Portuguese-English will be available via Zoom.
To participate, register here.
Scientific journal
In recognition of the seminar, CADE's Revista de Defesa da Concorrência, a biannual publication aimed to foster competition law research, will have a session dedicated to the fight against cartels in public tenders in its first 2022 issue. Those who wish to have their papers published should submit them for review by January 2022.
Papers should be original and be written in Portuguese, English, French, or Spanish. An author's identity is kept hidden from reviewers throughout the paper review process, which starts with the examination of its format and content against the journal requirements.
National Day for the Fight against Cartels
The event takes place on the National Day for the Fight against Cartels, 8 October, as officially recognised in 2008. The commemorative date comes from Brazil's first leniency agreement, signed on the same day, in 2003, in the scope of a proceeding to scrutinise cartels in private security tenders of the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Antitrust leniency agreements seek to obtain information and documents to prove a cartel and identify other participants. The agreement only accepts the first company (or business group) to apply, which has the obligations of stopping the anticompetitive activity, pleading guilty to the violation, and cooperating with investigations by identifying other participants and providing evidence and relevant information.