Professional and Trade Associations Back on the Antitrust Front

By Eduardo Frade

Trade and professional associations are a type of collaboration between competitors that generate several interesting and hard antitrust debates, still with diverging views on several topics. They can significantly foster competition but can also implicate serious concerns, from cartels, to concerted boycotts, exchange of sensitive information and market foreclosure. A central aspect related to these associations is countervailing power, which often allows for more flexibility o