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Law
Competition Policy

Bilateral relations with Brazil

Relations with Brazil have intensified over the last years with cooperation on cases and exchanges of staff.

In 2009, Commissioner Kroes signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Brazilian Minister of Justice and the heads of the Brazilian Competition Authorities: the Council of Economic Defense (CADE), the Secretariat of Economic Law of Ministry of Justice (SEDE), and the Secretariat for Economic Monitoring of the Ministry of Finance (SEAE), in order to ensure a closer cooperation between DG Competition and its Brazilian counterparts.

The objective of the MoU is to promote cooperation coordination between the Parties on enforcement activities and competition policy initiatives. In particular, the MoU provides for:

  • Cooperation between the two Parties: exchange of non-confidential information, exchange of staff as well as the organization of seminars, fora and courses.
  • The possibility for a Party to request to the other Party to initiate appropriate enforcement activities in accordance with the Party’s competition law (positive comity). 
  • A consultation mechanism in order to avoid conflicts on enforcement activities (negative comity).
  • The possibility of having technical cooperation (capacity building) subject to reasonably available resources.
  • The two Parties also endeavor to meet periodically to exchange views and information on enforcement activities and policy developments.