Hello there. Welcome back to Emlex's podcast. Asia Pacific Senior Editor James Panicki is with you,

and it's great to have your company again. Now Now we don't usually need much of an excuse to talk

about antitrust developments in Brazil, where the country's competition regulator, known by its

Portuguese language acronym Kajé, that's C-A-D-E, has been extremely active over past years.

But it's a significant legislative change in the country that has caught our attention

this week. A new law will increase the damages allowed in civil cases and will provide greater

leverage to cartel victims wanting to file civil lawsuits. It's all part of Brazil's push to provide

greater deterrence. Not only will the fines go up, but the law

will equip potential litigants with the information they need to pursue their cases.

Our Sao Paolo-based senior reporter Anna Paola Candil has been following the law's development,

and she joins me now. So, Anna Paola, the law came into effect in November. So how is it likely to affect

antitrust enforcement in Brazil? So before I properly answer this, I would just like to bring

some context. First, Brazil had no standard rules for civil actions before this law. We have

no body of case law on the damages subject yet.

This is all very new to the courts.

Now, answer to your question, there are two important sides of this law

that helps balance privacy enforcement and antitrust enforcement in Brazil,

because while this bill encourages companies to report wrongdoing to the

national competition authority, it also encourages cartel victims to seek damages in court.

And why is that? So on one side, this law has a provision that allows for double damages against

defendants who don't plead guilty to the government, which ultimately

stimulate them to sign leniency agreements with Qadi. And on the other side, the bill

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