Parsing Brazil’s ‘More Flexible’ Approach to Digital Markets
Following an extensive consultation period, Brazil’s Ministério da Fazenda (Ministry of Finance) last October unveiled its final digital-platform report. Given the public stances previously taken by Brazil’s would-be digital regulators—the antitrust agency Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE) and the telecommunications regulator Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (Anatel)—it was likely inevitable that the report would endorse some kind of regulation of large digital platforms. That’s not to mention the peer pressure the ministry felt from other competition authorities like the European Commission or the views expressed by Brazil’s executive branch on other forms of digital market regulation
It is nonetheless useful to give a close look at the report’s findings and the context of the public consultation, as there are both positive and negative aspects to consider.