History of Competition Policy in Brazil: 1930–2010

Abstract

As Brazil moved from a highly controlled and concentrated economy to a freer and more competitive one, the antitrust regime developed. The article outlines this historical process. We begin by addressing how the first norms with antitrust-like provisions were created from the 1930s until 1962. We then discuss the difficult operation of the competition authority (CADE) during the military regime from 1964 to 1985. After examining a transition period marked by democratization and a new constitutional order, we correlate the market-oriented reforms of the 1990s with what became the first antitrust statute to be effectively implemented. We then present the more well-known history of this 1994 statute: the initial focus on merger control and the subsequent shift toward cartel enforcement. The article concludes by examining the main challenges facing the Brazilian competition authorities today, including the implementation of the new antitrust statute passed in December 2011.