Brazil Offers Reform to Tighten Big Tech Antitrust Regulation

The Brazilian government proposed a change to its competition legislation on Thursday that would enable CADE, the country’s antitrust watchdog, to identify specific digital platforms as systemically relevant and, if required, impose additional regulatory requirements on them.

It is important that the Brazilian’s Finance Ministry argues that in order to deal with the new reality of large internet companies stifling competition because of their size and market strength, local laws need to be given greater capabilities.

The government cites techniques including self-preferencing, when a company’s own goods or services show up first in online searches, exclusivity agreements, and “killer acquisitions.”

The details needed to disclose changes in terms of service or conditions, pre-merger notifications, and transparency regulations for enterprises and end users about commercially important information on service and product offers and use are some of the new obligations.

The administration said that by taking cues from policies implemented in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan, the proposed legislation amendment strikes a balance between the US and EU approaches for regulating major digital platforms.

The administration must choose whether to present the suggestions as a new bill to Congress or add a replacement language that might be included in an already-considered legislative package in order for the modifications to become effective.

Economic Reforms Secretary Marcos Pinto told a news conference, “What we are proposing here is very reasonable and balanced,” and he said he expects action to be made before the end of this year.

“We don’t want to stifle creativity, impose needless expenses, or introduce unneeded bureaucracy. Our goal is to preserve competition, which is a core economic virtue.