CADE starts Working Group to proofread Guidelines: CADE’S Antitrust Leniency Program

On 7 August, CADE promoted the first meeting of the Working Group for CADE’s Leniency Programme in 2024. Members of the agency, lawyers, economists, and scholars participated in the event. The group aims to collect inputs from the legal community, representatives of public bodies, and economic agents, to make the negotiation process more effective.

At first, the purpose was to set a work methodology and goals, along with the approval of main themes and the compilation of suggestions from participants of the working group.

Mr Alexandre Barreto, the superintendent general of CADE, emphasised the importance of addressing a continuous debate to improve practices and competition policies of the agency. “The collaboration between public and private sectors straightens CADE’s Antitrust Leniency Programme, but it also promotes a reliable and transparent environment.”

The IBRAC’s Managing Director, Renê Medrado, and the Director of Competition, Ricardo Botelho, also took part in the meeting.

In the next meeting on 14 August, Professor Catarina Marvão is to addressing an empirical overview of CADE’s Leniency Programme.There will be five online meetings to debate matters regarding negotiation steps and leniency agreement investigations. A proofread final draft of the “Guidelines: CADE’s Antitrust Leniency Program” is to be available for public consultation.

The working group started in 2023, as an initiative from the Office of the Superintendent General of CADE. In 2024, the group enabled the participation of external agents to improve the leniency agreement proceedings.