In force since May 29, 2012, Law No. 12,529 of 2011 restructured the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) which is 10 years old today (29) and created mechanisms to ensure competitiveness between companies and services in Brazil.
As explained by the president of the agency, Alexandre Cordeiro, law 12,529, also called the Competition Defense Law (LDC), is essential for the health of the national market, as it punishes price control practices that are often combined between alleged competitors.
“It is important to know that every time a company stops competing with another, it is harming the consumer, because it is not disputing his preference. Therefore, she sometimes sits down with the competitor, failing to compete, to agree on product prices. This is what we call a cartel,” she explained.
With the LDC, CADE has already judged about 4,700 acts of economic concentration between large companies, in addition to mergers and acquisitions. The average period for analyzing these processes is 29 days. Among the most visible cases, CADE was responsible for imposing a fine of more than R$500 million on 11 companies for forming a cartel in the operation of the São Paulo subway and the Federal District.
Among the abusive practices practiced by companies, Cordeiro recalls that, in addition to cartels, there are tying sales, conditional discounts, exclusivity contracts and other unilateral conducts that violate the right to free competition and free choice. “These practices are usually carried out by very large companies, which occupy a large share of the market. Then the person has no other option,” he explained.
Cade also analyzes mergers and acquisitions in the corporate and corporate world. The agency is responsible for evaluating the impact of these movements and preventing the formation of monopolies.
“The new law made CADE stronger and gained greater enforcement in the defense of competition. But new challenges are coming, such as, for example, the ideas and possible changes of what will be the antitrust objectives from now on”, said the president of CADE, Alexandre Cordeiro.
To commemorate and elucidate the LDC, Cade launched a series of institutional videos in which experts in the field report the advances and challenges to maintain the health of the national market and competitiveness in the economic sectors. Check out the first episode:
