Press Release - Clarification on Article from Valor Econômico Newspaper

The Administrative Council for Economic Defense – CADE (CADE) clarifies the article “Governo deve corrigir valores que obrigam notificação de fusão ou aquisição ao Cade” (the Brazilian government is to update the turnover limits for merger notification), as follows:

CADE is an authority under the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP), not the Ministry of Finance, even though it deals with several economic issues.

Therefore, we highlight that CADE has no intention to change the procedures to notify mergers or issue joint decrees, as stated in the article. In addition, the MJSP has not informed CADE on any procedure of this nature.

Although CADE has a small number of civil servants, they form a really technical and efficient team, so they are not too “swamped” to accomplish their institutional mission.

Despite the increase in the number of merger notifications over the past few years, the authority has quickly and successfully carried out its reviews. In 2024, CADE registered the shortest average review time in history, only 21.6 days. This timeframe is one of the shortest in the world, making Brazil a global reference among antitrust authorities.

Claiming that increasing the turnover limits for notification, freeing up funds to conduct other activities, is an unfounded and unrealistic statement of the antitrust authority’s daily activities.

CADE’s reviews enable a quick response to the market, ensuring predictability to economic agents, while promoting a more competitive environment for businesses.

The authority reaffirms its commitment to competition defence and to protect society against anticompetitive practices.