ABA antitrust conference focuses on competition and enforcement in the Americas

The American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section will host its sixth conference focusing on the Americas on June 1-2  in Rio de Janeiro featuring the president of Brazil’s top competition enforcement agency and other government enforcers from throughout the region.

The 2023 Antitrust in the Americas meeting, which stretches over two days, will bring together government enforcers, corporate counsel and leading antitrust practitioners from throughout the Americas. It comes as competition law enforcement activity expands through the region, and in particular Latin America where mergers, cartels, distribution agreements and dominance face increasingly closer scrutiny.

Special focus will be given to the emerging antitrust issues that general counsel and their advisors should anticipate in the current regulatory environment. On June 1, for example, the “Enforcers Roundtable” will hear from leaders from around the hemisphere on how global changes are affecting their agencies and their main priorities. Speakers include Alexandre Barreto de Souza, general superintendent, CADE, Brasilia; Viviana Blanco Barboza, president commissioner, COPROCOM; and San Jose Andrea Marvan Saltiel, president, COFECE, Mexico City.

Also June 1, President Alexandre Cordeiro Macedo of CADE, Brazil’s enforcement agency, will speak.

Other programs include:

• “New Trends in Cartel Enforcement” — Recent developments in anti-cartel enforcement and the rise of the digital era have created new challenges for both agencies and companies. This panel will discuss these developments, as well as non-traditional cartels, the innovative cases agencies are undertaking and how this creates new risks for companies and individuals.

• “Antitrust Enforcement in the Tech Sector: Where Will It Go from Here?” — The technology sector is a huge area of focus for antitrust enforcement agencies across the Americas, as well as around the globe, and tech companies face an increasing number of investigations with novel theories of harm. This panel will explore the tech investigations and cases that are pushing the boundaries of antitrust and discuss how the enforcement agenda may evolve going forward.

• “Current Challenges in Multi-Jurisdictional Reviews” — The adoption of suspensory regimes in several countries in the Americas has led to questions related to what extent are the substantive review frameworks of the agencies aligned and how does that affect the strategy of multi-jurisdictional merger filings in the region. The panel explores the issues facing merging companies doing business in the Americas.

For additional information on the meeting, visit www.americanbar.org/groups/antitrust_law/events.