The General Superintendent of Brazil's antitrust authority, Cade, sent a request to the regulator's court asking local steel association IABr to be condemned for using its petition rights for anti-competitive purposes.
In May this year, Cade was investigating IABr for those same reasons. At the time, Abrifa, the local association for steel importing and producing companies, accused IABr of filing requests to prevent already established companies in Brazil to import rebar.
"More precisely, IABr was filing precautionary measures for producing proofs in advance, through injunctions, questioning the compliance of the imported product according to the Brazilian standard norms," Cade's General Superintendent said.
"As a result, imported rebar shipments were being held at the ports while inspections were conducted, causing countless costs to the importers and avoiding those products to be sold in the country," Cade's request said.
Cade's court is expected to make a final decision on whether IABr is guilty of the accusations.