CADE Implements Electronic Protocol System

On October 21, 2015, Resolution nº 141 was published in the Official Gazette establishing the new Electronic Protocol System of the Brazilian Antitrust Agency, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense ("CADE").

In parallel, last Friday, October 23, 2015, CADE launched the Report for Electronic Notification of Merger Filings2, which contains detailed instructions for the electronic protocol procedure of Merger Filings with CADE.

The electronic protocol system is available on CADE's Website on the Internet3, in the area for access by external users previously registered4 with the Information Electronic System ("SEI")5.

Initially, the electronic protocol service is only available for initial notifications of Merger Filings. It is not yet anticipated when the protocol of responses to Official Letters issued by CADE and other miscellaneous requests will be able to be made through the system.

For the electronic protocol procedure of Merger Filings, the system allows the attachment of files with a maximum size of 5 MB (megabits), only in PDF, MPEG, MP4, CSV and ZIP formats.

Original documents submitted to CADE in the Merger Filings can be requested by the Antitrust Authorities for any type of checking and must be preserved by the user for up to one (1) year after the final decision of the case.

The implementation of the electronic protocol does not extinguish the possibility of personal delivery or postal shipment of the relevant documents to CADE's Protocol Unit, which will also be available for receipt of documents that cannot be scanned for exceeding the maximum loading capacity indicated in system, within 5 (five) days from the date of the electronic protocol.

It is important to bear in mind that complaints of non-notified Merger Filings, complaints of non-compliance with a decision issued in a Merger Control and complaints / representation of anticompetitive practices may be done through the "Clique Denúncia"6, provided by the CADE'S website since August 2015.

Footnotes

1 Resolution no. 14 is available only in Portuguese on the following website http://www.cade.gov.br/upload/CADE%20-%20Resolução%2014-2015%20(002).pdf

2 The Report for Electronic Notification of Merger Filings is available only in Portuguese on the following website http://www.cade.gov.br/upload/Guia%20para%20notificação%20eletrônica%20de%20atos%20de%20concentração.pdf

3 The access to CADE's website is available on the following website...