Competition Law Enforcement in Digital Markets: The Brazilian Perspective on Unilateral Conducts

Following an international trend, Brazil’s National Competition Authority (NCA), the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), has been devoting more attention to potential anticompetitive conducts in the digital economy. This article discusses a set of cases involving unilateral conducts in the digital economy, assessing CADE’s decision-making practice, enforcement challenges, and tools used. Building from CADE’s case law, we single out some relevant aspects of the Brazilian experience, including (1) the cautious approach taken by CADE when evaluating effects of unilateral conducts in final decisions, (2) the use of interim measures to intervene in early stages of investigations, and (3) the use of settlements to reach quick solutions with negotiated remedies. A brief conclusion discusses possible future trends given the experience discussed in the article.