According to CADE's Bylaws ("RICADE"), all documents in foreign languages should only be filed when accompanied by their translation into Portuguese. This requirement is foreseen in RICADE's Article 48, and the extension requests that used to be a common practice among Brazilian competition lawyers, should no longer be accepted for transactions analyzed under the fast-track procedure, as recently informed by the General Superintendence.

This new trend is grounded in the fact that CADE has only 30 days to render a clearance decision, according to the GS Coordination in charge of carrying out fast-track procedure analysis. During this period, CADE should be able to evaluate the observance of all legal requirements in new merger clearance procedures, as well as analyze their merits. In this scenario, the usual requirement of 15 days of extension to present the translations, if granted as a rule, would already consume half their time. This may force the authority to request the parties to amend the filing, in order to obtain an interruption of the analysis term, in cases of insufficient time to analyze the merits of the transaction and check the information provided by the parties.

Therefore, GS recently adopted the understanding that cases presented without the translations of the pertinent documents into Portuguese shall no longer rely on extensions: they will become subject to receiving an amendment request, and have to be presented again.

Going forward, translations should be provided beforehand in order to prevent any complications of this kind, which can result in the delay of the clearance decision.

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This article provides information and comments on legal issues and developments of interest. The foregoing is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject matter covered and is not intended to provide legal advice. Readers should seek specific legal advice before taking any action with respect to the matters discussed herein.