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Andrea Cruz

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Andrea Da Cunha Cruz joined the Firm in 2022. She integrates the Antitrust practice group, with focus on providing legal assistance regarding a variety of matter concerning competition law and international trade. Andrea has a wide breadth of experience in the representation of clients before the Brazilian Competition Authority (the Administrative Council for Economic Defense or CADE) in administrative proceedings regarding both cartel investigations and unilateral anticompetitive practices. She also has a wide-ranging track record of commercial transactions filed with CADE. Her practice further includes preventive counselling concerning antitrust risks involved in commercial practices and contracts; handling internal investigations; and structuring and implementing antitrust compliance programs. As to international trade, she mainly advises representatives of the national industry and Brazilian importers in antidumping and subsidy investigations.
Trench Rossi Watanabe and Baker McKenzie have executed a strategic cooperation agreement for consulting on foreign law.

The Secretariat of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade and Services by means of Circular No. 12, published on 10 April 2023, set a 30-day deadline (extended for additional 30 days by means of Circular No. 14, published on 27 April 2023) to gather contributions from the civil society regarding the draft ordinance that provides for new procedures for the assessment of public interest in the context of trade defense measure.

The Brazilian Secretariat of Foreign Trade issued on 8 March 2023 a new ordinance that renders the assessment of public interest (API) an optional proceeding in original dumping and subsidy investigations. Under the previous regulation, the API was mandatory in such original investigations and thus initiated ex officio by the Brazilian Department of Trade Defense, together with the opening of every new investigation.

On 3 March 2023, Brazil issued two new decrees regarding the organizational structure and attributes of the Foreign Trade Chamber and the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. These are the two main bodies responsible for, among other things, defining Brazil’s foreign trade policies, including the application of trade defense measures.

After a long legislative process, a new Brazilian Federal law on cartel damages claims was enacted and entered into force (Law No. 14.470/2022) on 17 November 2022. The statute comes with new provisions that are expected to significantly increase incentives for these lawsuits in Brazil. According to the new statute, those who suffered damages due to cartel agreements and concerted practices affecting Brazilian markets will be able to reclaim twice the value of their losses.

The National Consumer Secretariat of the Ministry of Justice of Brazil (Secretaria Nacional do Consumidor (SENACON)) has prepared a guide — the “Practical Guide for the Analysis of Price Increases of Products and Services” — focusing on guiding the authorities’ actions on the identification and characterization of abusive price increases for products and services and what measures should be taken in this case.