VMCA attorneys to participate in a competition and regulation seminar in Brasília

VMCA partners Eduardo Frade and Marcela Mattiuzzo and senior associate Diogo Sant’Ana are going to participate this week in the 3rd National Forum on Competition and Regulation (Fonacre, in the Portuguese acronym), which will take place from May 15 to 17 in Brasilia.

Marcela will be a speaker in the forum’s first panel, at 9am on the 16^th, which will discuss “Leniency Agreements: judicial control and contemporary issues “. Partner Eduardo Frade will be in the next panel, discussing “Compliance and the Brazilian anti-corruption law” at 10.50am. Finally, senior associate Diogo Sant’Ana will be a panelist at the third panel of the day, entitled “Frequent debtors: interactions between taxation and competition” at 2 pm on the same day. In addition to private sector experts, all panels will feature academics and members from various spheres of the government, including regulatory agencies.

Fonacre, organized by the Association of Federal Judges of Brazil (Ajufe), aims to promote the debate among federal judges, lawyers, members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and other legal operators in order to improve discussions on issues related to competition and regulation.

 

More information is available here.

Vinicius Marques de Carvalho to speak at Pre-ICN Forum in Cartagena

On May 14^th, VMCA’s partner Vinicius Marques de Carvalho will speak on the panel “We know ‘consumer harm’ when we see it – or don’t we? Substantive assessment by High Tech and National Champions“, during the the Pre-International Competition Network (Pre-ICN) Forum, co-organised by ICC and the IBA, which is an annual high-level forum where attendees can take part in an interactive discussion on competition law enforcement and policy and get insights directly from regulators and business experts.

Entitled “Emerging Trends in Antitrust Policy and Enforcement: Colombia, Latin America, and Beyond”, the Pre-ICN will take place in Cartagena (Colombia) and is focused on  is for business executives, private practitioners, competition agencies, academics, ICN delegates, and NGAs.

More information is available on the event’s webpage: https://bit.ly/2DSvPFY

Eduardo Frade to speak at ABA’s Antitrust in the Americas conference

VMCA partner Eduardo Frade will be a panelist on the topic “Bid Rigging: Anticorruption Mets Competition Enforcement” on May 10, 2019, at the American Bar Association (ABA)’s 5th biennial Antitrust in the Americas conference. The conference will be held in in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 9-10, and will gather government enforcers, corporate counsel and leading antitrust practitioners from throughout the Americas.

Eduardo’s panel will discuss lessons learned from recent high-profile cases in Brazil, Argentina and elsewhere related to bid rigging cases involving the intersection of fraud, anti-corruption and competition law enforcement, which have become the “new normal,” creating unique challenges involving overlapping enforcement mandates, issues of leniency and cooperation, and assessment of penalties. Alongside VMCA’s partner, will be discussing the topic John Pecman (Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Canada), Laura Alonso (Secretariat of Public Ethics, Transparency and the Fight against Corruption, Anticorruption Office, Ministry of Justice & Human Rights of Argentina), Fernando Carreño Nuñez (Von Wobeser y Sierra, Mexico) and Alexandre Cordeiro Macedo (General Superintendent, CADE, Brazil).

Full programme available at https://bit.ly/2WHkiQI

Brazil’s Vivo asked to provide GDPR-inspired processing report

A Brazilian public prosecutor has asked telecoms company Vivo to clarify data protection practices used in its targeted advertising services ahead of national data protection legislation (LGPD) entering into force next year, Global Data Review (GDR) reports.

According to partner Marcela Mattiuzzo, the request’s lack of any reference to legislation is interesting. “The DPIA requirements are very much based on the GDPR, because even though we have a Brazilian version in the LGPD, that it’s not yet enforced – all we currently have is a very broad article [in the LGPD] that just allows the authority to require such reports without going into detail of what the report will consist of”, Marcela told GDR.

VMCA partner also said that this approach was “odd,” particularly given that Brazil’s Congress is currently discussing how former president Michael Temer’s December executive order, which created a specialised data protection authority in a last-minute pivot on policy, will operate in practice.

Read more.

Vinicius de Carvalho discusses competition in the fuel sector in a seminar in São Paulo

VMCA partner Vinicius Marques de Carvalho spoke in the “Opportunities in the fuel market in Brazil” seminar, organized by Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo on April 16, in São Paulo.

Members from the government and the fuel industry attended the event to discuss the sector’s most urgent issues, such as increasing the competitiveness and improving the investments. Among the speakers were former Minister of Finance Henrique Meirelles and ETCO’s president, Edson Vismona. São Paulo’s mayor Bruno Covas made the opening speech.

Vinicius served as a panelist in the panel “Competition in the fuel sector in Brazil” and discussed how illegal practices create an environment of unfair competition. “Only the one willing to practice the same misconduct as those who already act on a market are able to enter it. Thus, we do not have the entry of new agents that could contribute to a fair competition”, said Vinicius.

 

Vinicius de Carvalho to speak about competitiveness in the Brazilian fuel sector in a seminar in São Paulo

Vinicius Marques de Carvalho will speak on April 16, 2019 at the seminar “Opportunities in the fuel market in Brazil” (Oportunidades no mercado de combustíveis no Brasil), organized by Folha de S. Paulo newspaper in São Paulo.

Representatives from the government and the fuel industry will attend the event to discuss the most urgent issues for the sector, such as how to increase competitiveness and the investments in the area.

Vinicius will be in the first panel of the day, entitled “Competitiveness in the fuel sector in Brazil” (A competitividade no setor de combustíveis no Brasil).

Partner Eduardo Frade speaks at 2019 ABA Antitrust Law Spring Meeting

Partner Eduardo Frade served as a panelist at the 67th American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Antitrust Law Spring Meeting, which took place March 27-29, 2019 in Washington, DC.

Eduardo was in the session “Is there life after leniency?”, on March 27, discussing the potential causes of the global decline of leniency applications, its implications, how the trend compares to other areas of law, and whether new tools are needed by enforcers.

John Terzaken (Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP) was the panel moderator, while Susan Jones (Novartis), Lisa Phelan (Morrison & Foerster LLP) and Brent Snyder (Hong Kong Competition Commission) were also panelists.

The ABA Section of Antitrust Law’s Annual Spring Meeting is the largest antitrust and consumer protection conference in the world. More information regarding this year’s edition is available at ABA’s website.

Marcela Mattiuzzo to speak at CIPL Roundtable on Brazil Data Protection Law in Brasília

Partner Marcela Mattiuzzo speaks today, April 8, 2019, at a roundtable organized by the Brazilian Institute of Public Law (IDP) and the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL) in Brasília.

During the debates, experts will engage in an open discussion on key issues surrounding data protection developments in Brazil from Brazil’s new data protection law (LGPD) to the establishment of Brazil’s national data protection authority (“ANDP”). Participants will share views and strategies on the road ahead for organizations conducting business in Brazil as well as regulators.

Speakers and panelists include industry and government representatives, lawyers, academics, and members of the civil society, such as Nathalie Gazzaneo (Facebook), Daniel Arbix (Google), Miriam Wimmer (Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications – MCTIC), Min. Ricardo Cueva (Superior Court of Justice – STJ), Damien Kieran (Twitter), Marília Monteiro (Nubank), Dennys Antonialli (InternetLab) and Sophia Vial (PROCONS Brasil).

Marcela will be a panelist at the roundtable 2, which will focus on regulatory challenges and will debate which aspects of the LGPD require further clarification and implementation guidance for industry, how to minimize and address potential conflict in the enforcement level between other regulators, consumer offices and the public prosecutor, and what are the specific regulatory challenges for international data transfers.

GDR: Brazil to make credit score registration automatic

Marcela Mattiuzzo spoke to Global Data Review (GDR) about the approval by Brazil’s Federal Senate of the Draft Supplementary Law No 54/2019, a bill which amends the country’s Banking Secrecy Law and implements an opt-out policy to the Positive Register.Marcela Mattiuzzo, a partner at VMCA in Sao Paulo, told GDR that although the most discussed element of the bill is the introduction of the opt-out clause, she thinks the bill shores up data protection standards.

“I think there are many provisions in this modified bill that are more protective of data in general. For example, the bill prohibits the collection of data not related to credit and sensitive information in relation to consumers’ credit scores.”

Mattiuzzo added that the bill is intended to make the credit market more competitive. “If more people were registered on the Positive Registry, companies would be able to offer better and cheaper credit – this is what the Ministry of Economy argued.”

Full article available here.

VMCA partner to speak at FTC hearing on competition and consumer protection

VMCA partner Marcela Mattiuzzo will be a speaker at the 11th session of the Federal Trade Commission’s Hearings Initiative, entitled “The FTC’s Role in a Changing World”, which will focus on the agency’s international work. The hearing will take place in Washington, D.C. on March 25-26.

The session will explore the FTC’s international role in light of globalization, technological change, and the increasing number of competition, consumer protection, and privacy laws and enforcement agencies around the world. Speakers will address the implications of international developments on the FTC’s work on behalf of American consumers.

Marcela will be a panelist at the “International Engagement and Emerging Technologies: Artificial Intelligence Case Study” panel, alongside Chinmayi Arun (National Law University Delhi), James Dipple-Johnstone (Information Commissioner’s Office, United Kingdom), Francis Kariuki (Competition Authority of Kenya), Isabelle de Silva (Autorité de la Concurrence, France) and Omer Tene (Stanford University).

The debate will be moderate by Deon Woods Bell and Ellen Connelly, both from the Federal Trade Commission.

Full program available here.