Clémentine Baldon
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On 18 August, the Brazilian antitrust authority’s investigation body (“CADE”) ordered soybean traders to stop complying with the “Soy Moratorium”, a 19-year-old agreement whereby major commodity traders commit no to source soybeans from areas in the Amazon that have been deforested after 2008.
CADE ignored the Moratorium’s positive impact on curbing deforestation. It considered the Moratorium to be an “anticompetitive agreement among competitors, which harms soy exports”, opened an in-depth investigation, and ordered its suspension as a preventive measure.
Fortunately, a week later, a Brazilian federal judge reversed CADE’s decision on the grounds that it interfered with an environmental public policy supported by the Brazilian government and was disproportionate and premature.
However, the moratorium has been weakened as the antitrust investigation continues, which may prompt traders to withdraw unilaterally, fearing potential fines.
Should environmental protection be sacrificed in the name of competition law?
Photo: Paul Buckingham – CC by-sa-2.0
