3/27/2020
On March 26, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) published an Information Note on its official website clarifying the functioning of the cases in progress before the Council.
Basically, CADE suspends terms that have a direct impact on the defense of the Representatives, keeping investigations, agreements and analysis of mergers in progress (mergers, acquisitions, joint venture and associative contracts). Acts that depend solely on the action of the authority continue to run. CADE also clarified that it will analyze requests for extension of specific deadlines, required by the parties, on a case-by-case basis.
The Note came in reaction to Provisional Measure No. 928, of March 23, 2020, edited by the President of the Republic, which included Article 6-C in Law No. 13,979, of February 6, 2020, which deals, especially, with deadlines to the detriment of defendants and private entities in administrative proceedings during the state of public calamity implemented by Legislative Decree No. 6/2020, in force since March 20, 2020.
Thus, as shown below, CADE determined:
NO DEADLINE FOR THE REPRESENTATIVES
- Administrative Proceedings for the imposition of Administrative Sanctions for Infringements of the Economic Order (processes for anticompetitive practices, such as cartel, imposition of resale price, among other commercial strategies);
- Administrative Procedures for Investigating Merger Acts (APAC) (processes already initiated to investigate an operation that should, but has not been notified to CADE);
- Administrative Proceedings for the Imposition of Incidental Procedural Sanctions (processes for the application of fines for non-compliance with procedural).
THERE WILL BE NO CHANGES IN THE PROCEDURAL DEADLINES
- Concentration Act Analysis;
- Preparatory Procedures and Administrative Investigations to Investigate Economic Order Violations (investigations for anti-competitive practices);
- Leniency Agreements;
- Termination Commitment Terms (TCC);
- Monitoring Concentration Control Agreements (ACC) and Terms of Commitment;
- Queries
