CADE rejects ABFMED collective proposal

Agreement provided for a collective negotiation among pharmaceutical distributors

Published in Jun 03, 2026 08:50 AM Updated in Jun 03, 2026 08:51 AM

On 27 May, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) dismissed the consultation submitted by the Associação Brasileira de Fornecedores de Medicamentos (ABFMED) on the antitrust legality of the collective proposal of Compromisso de Ajustamento de Conduta (CAC), to be executed with the Câmara de Regulação do Mercado de Medicamentos (CMED).

ABFMED requested CADE’s statement on the antitrust legality of the collective negotiation involving companies that are associated to the entity, regarding cases of price registration in online reverse auctions and offers of medicines above the predetermined limits of CMED. The proposal provided for the individual admission of companies, without joint and several liability among the participants.

It included three lines of action: partial payment of the fines, financial contribution for collective project of public interest linked to the CMED, and adoption of compliance measures to prevent new violations. Part of the resources would be sent to a collective fund operated by the association.

Commissioner Carlos Jacques, rapporteur of the case, highlighted that CADE’s review was restricted to the competitive elements of the proposal, while CMED is the one that assesses the regulatory compliance and legal feasibility of the document.

He also mentioned the concerns related to the role of the association in coordinating the collective agreement, mainly considering the alleged access to competitively sensitive information of the associate companies, such as data used to define individual contributions and monitoring of commitments.

“The content presented to CAC is not in accordance with the antitrust legislation, especially regarding the harmful effects of sharing competitively sensitive information in the contractual structure presented to CADE”, he stated. The lack of antitrust guidelines or safeguards to mitigate eventual competitive risks resulting from the exchange of information between rivals was also mentioned.

CADE decided to reject the proposal, reinforcing that the decision did not address CAC’s regulatory compliance, which is subject to CMED’s liability.

Access case no. 08700.001108/2026-81.