By Brazil Stock Guide – Brazil’s antitrust authority Cade faced an unusual institutional clash on Wednesday (Oct. 22) after the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove) challenged a decision by Cade President Gustavo Augusto Freitas de Lima to change the rapporteur in the Soy Moratorium case. The dispute triggered a heated procedural debate and led to the early adjournment of the plenary session.
Abiove filed a motion for clarification, alleging that the president had illegally reassigned the case’s rapporteur through a unilateral order following a plenary vote on September 30. The group cited a “vice of competence” and requested the reinstatement of the original rapporteur, invoking Article 37 of Cade’s internal bylaws, which states that the redactor of a ruling must be the author of the winning divergent vote, not the president.
During the September session, Cade ruled that restrictions linked to the Soy Moratorium—which prohibit companies and associations from exchanging sensitive commercial data such as prices, suppliers, and volumes—will only take effect on January 1, 2026. The original rapporteur, Councilor Carlos Jacques, had defended immediate enforcement, arguing that data-sharing among major traders “reduces competitiveness and may generate long-lasting anticompetitive effects.”
The majority, however, sided with Councilor José Levi, who proposed a transition period until the end of 2025, arguing that immediate suspension could disrupt supply chains and harm ongoing sustainability commitments. Levi’s proposal was supported by Rodrigo Fonseca, Vitor Fernandes, and Camila Cabral, while Jacques and President Lima were in the minority.
The new tension emerged after Lima reassigned the authorship of the ruling, prompting Abiove’s objection. Jacques called the move “a violation of the plenary’s sovereign decision,” while Vitor Fernandes stressed that Cade should respect “regimental limits and the principle of natural jurisdiction.” Camila Cabral cautioned that procedural coherence was essential to “safeguard the institution’s reputation.”
The exchange quickly escalated, with interruptions, overlapping remarks, and disputes over whether the prior judgment had been validly approved. Lima called for a brief internal recess, and the session was closed without resolution—marking one of the rare instances of open institutional friction inside Cade’s tribunal.
The Soy Moratorium, signed by major traders such as ADM, Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus, prohibits the purchase of soybeans grown on Amazon land cleared after July 2008. The agreement, seen as a cornerstone of Brazil’s environmental compliance framework, is now under scrutiny amid Cade’s investigation into potential anticompetitive data-sharing among exporters.
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