CADE signs cooperation agreement with IBRAC

On 08 November, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) and the Brazilian Institute for Competition, Consume, and International Trade (IBRAC) signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement. The partnership aims at fostering cooperation between the institutions to promote actions to improve public electronic services provided by CADE, and spread knowledge on competition law. 

According to the document, CADE and IBRAC will implement mechanisms to monitor legislative bills on competition matters. Among the actions, the institutions will adopt research metrics on public access websites of the Brazilian House of Representatives and the Brazilian Senate, in addition to sharing the proposals identified. However, the agreement establishes that there will not be any exchange of expert opinions or discussions on the competences of CADE, protecting the independence and impartiality of the Tribunal’s decisions.

The agreement also establishes the creation of forums for permanent debates on antitrust and similar topics, professional development actions (seminars, conferences, training courses, among others), in addition to the elaboration of instructional materials to disseminate studies on competition defence.

According to Alexandre Cordeiro, president of CADE, the initiative reinforces the agency’s commitment to promote free competition and fairness in the Brazilian market. “This partnership facilitates the creation of spaces for dialogue and learning, which are essential to develop policies and practices that benefit the economy and society as a whole”, he highlighted.

Technological Innovations

One of the main objectives of the agreement is the improvement of the electronic services that CADE provides. According to the work plan, IBRAC will help the agency to test the solutions created for external users to access CADE’s website and the Brazilian Electronic Information System (SEI). The representatives of IBRAC will also test new features in the external user interface systems, in accordance with CADE’s timeline, reporting errors or improvement opportunities.