The Administrative Council for Economic Defense (WHERE) conferred protection to the identity of whistleblowers acting in good faith, for a period of 100 (one hundred) years.
This decision was based on Ordinance No. 292/2019, signed on May 6, 2019. However, the benefit of confidentiality is granted only to whistleblowers who are not directly involved in the anti-competitive conduct.
In cases where the individual has participated in the illegal activity, the handling of information will follow the usual procedures of Leniency Agreements and Cease and Desist Agreements.
From the news article:
The Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) has taken an important step to strengthen the protection of whistleblowers acting in good faith who wish to report violations of economic order to the agency. From now on, the identity of the whistleblower will be protected for a period of 100 years. This measure is part of the new guidelines established by Ordinance No. 292/2019, signed this Monday (May 6), which regulates the handling of complaints within the Council.
The confidentiality of identity aims to offer greater security to individuals who report cartels and other anti-competitive conduct to CADE (Brazil's antitrust authority) without being involved in the illicit practices – the so-called good-faith whistleblowers. Between January 2017 and July 2018, approximately 401,300 of the investigations opened involving cartels originated from such reports. This demonstrates how whistleblower protection is fundamental to the fulfillment of the antitrust agency's institutional role.
The ordinance is in line with Law No. 13,608/18, which established the protection of whistleblower data, and with the Access to Information Law and its regulations (Law 12,527/11 and Decree 7,724/12). Furthermore, the document adapts and incorporates into the Brazilian Competition Defense System the measures already established by the Comptroller General of the Union and Federal Ombudsman Offices (Joint IN No. 01 CRG/OGU, June 24, 2014).
It is worth noting that the protection of personal data is a benefit granted only to whistleblowers who are not directly involved in the anti-competitive conduct. In cases where the individual has participated in the illegal practice, the processing of information will follow the usual procedures of Leniency Agreements and Cease and Desist Agreements.
The ordinance also addresses the procedures that must be adopted for the analysis of anonymous complaints, in order to guarantee full compliance with the jurisprudence of the Supreme Federal Court.
Thus, the anonymous complaint submitted to CADE will be reviewed by the General Superintendence, which will initiate a Preparatory Procedure if there are sufficient elements or if there are means of verifying the narrated facts, or will close the case when there is no possibility of carrying out an investigative act to ascertain the facts, or when it is a private dispute, without interest to the community, and/or the narrative of its facts and grounds are incomprehensible.
Source: WHERE
