In brief
- Brazil's Chamber of Deputies may vote on Tuesday 17 November 2026 on PL 4,675/2025, which amends Law 12.529/2011 and strengthens CADE's powers over large platforms.
- The text creates a 'systemic relevance' category, with duties such as no self-preferencing, data portability and interoperability.
- If the Chamber approves it, it must still pass the Federal Senate and receive presidential assent.
Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies may vote on Tuesday 17 November 2026 on Projeto de Lei (PL) 4.675/2025, which regulates competition in digital markets. It is among the most significant initiatives in the region on large platforms, and its approach is economic rather than content-based.
What the bill proposes
The federal executive submitted the text in September 2025. It is moving under an urgency procedure, approved by the Chamber on 18 March 2026 by 276 votes to 186, so it goes straight to the floor without passing through committees. The rapporteur, Deputy Aliel Machado (PV-PR), announced the 17 November date after talks with party leaders.
The bill amends the Lei de Defesa da Concorrência (Law 12.529/2011) and widens the tools of the Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE). The rapporteur’s substitute text creates a specialised superintendency within the authority for systemic relevance and digital markets. According to DPL News, it also provides for an advisory council including bodies such as the Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (Anatel), companies and civil society.
Who could be designated, and with what duties
The bill sets criteria for identifying economic groups of “systemic relevance”: annual turnover above R$5 billion in Brazil or R$50 billion worldwide, plus qualitative features such as market power, user numbers, data control and strategic position in digital ecosystems. Designation is not automatic. CADE must open a specific administrative proceeding, and the authority’s Tribunal must approve the outcome.
Once designated, a company could face special obligations: no favouring of its own products in search and ranking systems, greater transparency on prices and recommendation criteria, data portability and interoperability with rival services. The text also contains rules to prevent barriers for businesses that depend on large platforms.
Debate and next steps
The Associação Latino-Americana de Internet (ALAI), which represents several platforms, argues that concepts such as “digital ecosystem”, “gatekeeper” and “dependence” still lack objective definitions, which in its view creates legal uncertainty. On the other side, 22 economists have sent an open letter to the Chamber supporting the bill, asking for outcome assessment and stronger technical capacity at CADE. If the floor approves it, the text goes to the Federal Senate; if the Senate amends it, it returns to the Chamber for the final word.
Our view at CEA Digital Law
At the Euro-American Committee of Digital Law - CEA Digital Law, we note that PL 4.675/2025 draws on the European model of Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 (the Digital Markets Act, DMA), with a clear institutional difference: in the European Union the European Commission designates gatekeepers using quantitative thresholds and direct obligations, whereas in Brazil designation runs through a proceeding before the existing competition authority. That design can offer more flexibility and stronger rights of defence, but it demands considerable technical capacity and realistic deadlines.
We suggest three lines of work for the debate: sharper definitions of the concepts the industry criticises, to narrow discretion; staffing and budget in line with CADE’s new mandate; and periodic evaluation of results. For other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Africa that are weighing responses to digital concentration, Brazil’s experience will be a useful testing ground for adapting the European model to economies with younger competition authorities. An open question is regional coordination, currently absent, in the face of platforms that operate in every market at once.
Sources
- DPL News: Câmara pode votar regulação econômica das big techs na próxima semana
- Câmara dos Deputados: ficha de tramitação PL 4.675/2025
- Data Privacy Brasil: carta aberta de economistas em apoio ao PL 4.675/2025
- Consumer Choice Center: PL 4675, tramitação e urgência
- Mobile Time: PL 4675 mira mercados digitais
CEA Digital Law
Newsletter
Events, news and analysis on digital law, straight to your inbox. Only when we have something worth telling you.
