Brazilian Antitrust Authority updates FAQ for merger filing criteria

New FAQ

Brazil’s Antitrust Authority (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica – CADE) has updated its FAQ section regarding merger filing criteria. An unofficial English translation of the updated FAQ is available here. The FAQ deals with specific aspects of CADE’s mandatory filing criteria, such as revenues, business volume, the timing for the assessment of a economic group, potential effects in Brazil (for cross-border transactions), and criteria for associative agreements.

The updated FAQ comes in the wake of discussions around the need for greater transparency and for updating the criteria for filing mergers in Brazil. The full analysis of the FAQ is available on Mattos Filho’s Único news portal.

Brazil’s Ministry of Finance concludes first public consultation on the PARC program

Brazil’s Ministry of Finance recently launched its Regulatory and Competition Assessment Procedure (Procedimento de Avaliação de Regulação Concorrencial – PARC), a program designed to improve regulatory and competition impact assessments in regard to regulations and other acts. The PARC is designed to review sub-regulatory measures (such as ordinances, resolutions, interpretive guidance, and regulations), as well as statutes and executive orders, to determine whether they may have the potential to significantly and immediately restrict the competitive landscape of specific sectors.

The rules and regulations subject to analysis are selected via public consultation, the first of which concluded on March 16 this year. It received submissions from 80 entities, including trade associations, non-profit organizations, individuals, academic experts, and market participants. Based on these submissions, nine normative acts were selected: one from the energy sector, and two each from the financial, health, and transportation sectors.

Once these normative acts have been reviewed, the Ministry of Finance’s Secretariat for Economic Reform will submit its recommended improvements to the relevant authorities, thereby initiating a process of cooperation and dialogue. This may result in rules identified as potentially restrictive to competition being reviewed.

Further details on the new PARC are available at Mattos Filho’s Único news portal.

CADE holds public hearing on mobile digital ecosystems

In the first half of 2025, CADE held a public hearing to request public comments on mobile digital ecosystems from civil organizations, members of the academic community, corporations, and government agencies. Input from various entities recommended that CADE take more assertive action toward the main players within specific operational systems.

This input has already led to important developments. CADE recently launched a preliminary inquiry (No. 08700.002893/2025-17) to investigate Apple for alleged anticompetitive conduct within the payments market. A technical notice released at the start of the inquiry made reference to such statements.

The hearing occurred in a context where CADE has dedicated significant time to all digital market-related matters. To date, CADE has reviewed 41 cases, encompassing both conduct investigations and merger reviews in the last years. As reported by CADE’s General Superintendent Alexandre Barreto at the commencement of the hearing, 20 of these cases remain ongoing.

For more information on these topics, please contact Mattos Filho’s Antitrust practice area.