OREANDA-NEWS. September 03, 2009. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) and Competition Authorities of Brazil signed the Programme on cooperation for 2010-2011, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

The Programme was signed by Mr. Igor Artemyev, Head of the FAS Russia, and by Heads of Brazil Competition Authorities in particular by Mr. Antonio Henrique Silveira, Head of the Secretariat for Economic Monitoring of the Ministry of Finance of the Federal Republic of Brazil and Mr. Cesar Costa Alves de Mattos, Head of the Administrative Council for Economic Defence of the Ministry of Justice of the Federal Republic of Brazil.

The Meeting between the Heads of the FAS Russia and Competition Authorities of Brazil was held within the frameworks of the BRIC International Competition Conference (September 1-2, 2009, Kazan).

During the negotiations the Parties noted the importance of the BRIC International Competition Conference that is supposed to be the first practical step for realization of the achieved agreements on political level and serves as the basis for the development of further cooperation between the Competition Authorities of the BRIC countries.

Heads of the Competition Authorities believe that the participation of leading competition policy experts in the Conference indicates the significant interest of worldwide competition community in this event.

The Parties informed each other about the latest changes in their competition legislation and came to the conclusion that such changes will allow them to face the new level of cooperation, particularly when holding investigations.

Besides, Heads of the Competition Authorities of Russia and Brazil informed each other about the most significant cases, recently investigated by the Authorities, including the cases in the field of anti-cartel activity. Particularly, Mr. Artemyev told about the FAS Russia’ activities in banning the violation of competition legislation in the oil products market. The Parties came to agreement to develop cooperation in the sphere of oil production in the frames of antimonopoly regulation.

As a result of the Meeting the Parties expressed their willingness to develop further fruitful and mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of competition policy.

Information.
Brazil Competition Authorities.

1. The Administrative Council for Economic Defence of the Ministry of Justice of the Federal Republic of Brazil (CADE).

2. The Secretariat for Economic Law of the Ministry of Finance of the Federal Republic of Brazil (SDE).

3. The Secretariat for Economic Monitoring of the Ministry of Finance of the Federal Republic of Brazil (SEAE).

There is no subordination between the three competition authorities, each having its own role in this system.

1. SEAE prepares advisory opinions primarily focused on economic aspects of mergers and anti-competitive investigations.

2. SDE also prepares opinions on merger control cases with more focus on legal aspects of the transaction. In anti-competitive conducts, SDE opens and conducts the investigation, including dawn raids. It also handles leniency applications, from the negotiation to the collection and analysis of all evidence provided. At the end of investigation, SDE issues its conclusion and send the case to CADE for a final decision regardless of whether it has found anti-competitive behavior, and regardless of whether any party has appealed the interim decision to CADE.

3. CADE is independent federal agency and the only one empowered to issue the final, definitive administrative decision in merger cases in the frames of control over economic concentration and anticompetitive investigations. CADE also has an attorney general office, which provides an additional advisory opinion on merger and anticompetitive behavior. Its most important task, however, is to represent CADE in all actions taken to courts against its decisions.