Cade opens process to investigate whether price lists for journalists violate the law – 12/26/2023 – Market

The general superintendent of Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense), Alexandre Barreto, initiated an administrative process to investigate Fenaj (National Federation of Journalists) and 25 trade union entities in the category for possible violations of the economic order.

The measure aims to determine whether the price tables to be followed by professionals, prepared and published by entities, violate the Antitrust Law (12,529/2011).

According to the order, it will be investigated whether the entities’ conduct falls within certain points prohibited by law — among them, the act of agreeing with a competitor on prices for goods or services offered individually.

The order also points out the publication of tables by entities as a possible act of creating difficulties in the formation, operation or development of a competing company or supplier.

Barreto’s decision was made based on a technical note completed by the agency this month — which contains the signature of Barreto himself, as well as Cade technicians — in an administrative inquiry opened in 2017.

The case derived from another case, about the professional photography and filming services market in Piauí.

According to the technical note used for Barreto’s decision, the Cade court has already had the opportunity to comment several times on price lists used by councils, associations and unions, configuring a “practice of influencing the adoption of uniform commercial behavior”.

According to the document, “price fixing is known to be harmful to competition.”

“In this understanding, possible price and fee tables would reduce competitiveness between agents, suppressing the freedom to set their own prices and would affect the market’s price balance mechanism, resulting in losses to end consumers”, states the note.

The note also says that Cade has considered tables published by professional entities as illegal because it sees no other objective other than limiting or reducing competition.

“Such conduct carries with it the relative presumption of illegality and its effects can be compared with the practice of a cartel itself”, states the document.

The represented parties (Fenaj and other entities) will have 30 days after notification to present their defenses. They must also specify and justify evidence, which will be analyzed by Cade.

In the case of companies, the practice of violating the economic order subjects those responsible to a fine of 0.1% to 20% of gross revenue. For other individuals or legal entities governed by public or private law, such as associations, the fine varies from R$50,000 to R$2 billion.

When contacted, Fenaj did not respond until the publication of this text.