In October, CADE issued Ordinance No. 419/2022, which created a working group to develop mechanisms to implement a joint database between CADE and the Federal Public Prosecutor (MPF) to exchange information.
The working group will be responsible for defining the criteria for the database that will contain decisions from CADE and the Federal and State Courts in both the criminal and civil areas. This database will be used to improve the knowledge and exchange of information between the authorities. Additionally, the group will also discuss the inclusion of data from court cases, in which CADE is an involved party, and it will develop coordinated and systematic plans for activities between the institutions involved and responsible for the investigation and repression of infringements of the economic order. Moreover, annual meetings will be held to discuss goals and evaluate the results of this joint strategy.
The creation of the working group is in line with the institutional commitments undertaken with the creation of the National Anti-Cartel Enforcement Front (FNCC), which is comprised of Public Prosecutors, Attorney Generals, and CADE. The FNCC was created with the purpose of consolidating the prevention and repression of cartels and began after the symposium “Cooperation in the Investigation and Fight Against Cartels,” promoted by CADE and the MPF in August 2022.
From a practical point of view, the working group is yet another mechanism to fight cartels in Brazil, since the conduct is punishable in the administrative (within the scope of CADE) and criminal spheres (based on complaints from the Public Prosecutor’s Office), which demands great synergy between the different authorities to detect, investigate, and prove its occurrence.
