‘Alphabet Soup’? Get to know Brazil’s main regulatory agencies

A-N-V-I-S-A

C-A-D-E

C-V-M

Have you ever had the feeling of ‘Alphabet Soup'

when reading about Brazilian regulatory agencies?

Well, we're here to help!

Today we're going to present three of the most important regulatory agencies in Brazil.

Let's start with one of the most cited institutions during the pandemic,

A-N-V-I-S-A

Anvisa, which is the biggest regulator of all,

is the body responsible for regulating pharmaceuticals,

food products, and establishing sanitary procedures.

Created in 1999 under the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government

(which oversaw the creation of many of Brazil's major regulators),

Anvisa is linked to the Ministry of Health.

Recently, Anvisa made the headlines

for its main role in the approval of Covid vaccines for use in Brazil.

Another major regulatory agency is the C-A-D-E

Cade, the acronym for the Administrative Council of Economic Defense (Cade)

is Brazil's antitrust watchdog,

similar to the U.S.'s Federal Trade Commission.

The declared mission of Cade is to protect free competition in the Brazilian market

and is the highest tribunal on all antitrust matters.

CADE's board is composed of 7 members,

all appointed by Brazil's president.

The latest notable thing Cade did was to approve

the selling of telecom Oi's assets to its competitors,

Also, in January this year, Cade announced that it would scrutinize

Petrobras' pricing policy to check for anticompetitive practices.

A final important one is C-V-M

Brazil's Securities Commission (CVM)

is in charge of regulating the country's financial markets,

licensing publicly held corporations,

and accrediting independent auditors,

among many other responsibilities.

Crucially, it also has the power to investigate and punish market irregularities,

being able to dish out fines of up to BRL 500 million

As an example, in 2019,

CVM gave out a series of fines adding up to BRL 536.5 million to Eike Batista,

formerly the richest man in Brazil, for insider trading.

The top level of CVM is a board of five directors,

all appointed by the president's office.

Don't want to get lost in this alphabet soup anymore?

Read the full story at The Brazilian Report

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