Implementing the ICN Recommended Practices for Merger Notification & Review Procedures (Brno 2008)
The Czech Office for the Protection of Competition and the Slovak Antimonopoly Office, together with the ICN subgroup on Merger Notification and Procedures held an interactive workshop designed to promote greater understanding and further implementation of the ICN’s Recommended Practices for Merger Notification and Review Procedures. The workshop took place in Brno, Czech Republic on March 18-19, 2008. Panels and breakout sessions focused on:
The workshop was attended by over 100 officials responsible for merger enforcement policy and/or pre-merger notification, senior staff lawyers and economists from 40 jurisdictions. Click here for workshop materials.
ICN Merger Workshop on Substantive Issues in Merger Analysis (Dublin 2006)
In 2007, as a follow-up to ICN Merger Guidelines Workbook Project (2006), ICN Remedies Project (2005) and ICN Investigative Technique Handbook (2005), the Irish Competition Authority and the UK Office of Fair Trading co-hosted a workshop in Dublin on the 13 and 14 April, 2007, aimed at competition agency staff lawyers and economists. The workshop explored substantive issues in merger review with the aide of a hypothetical merger case in the dairy industry. In particular, the following topics were explored:
1) market definition;
2) unilateral and coordinated effects;
3) entry and expansion;
4) evidence; and,
5) remedies.
There were 116 participants at the workshop, including 31 speakers and moderators, from 42 countries covering all five continents: Asia (7 countries), Africa (1), Europe (27, 18 in EU), North America (1), South & Central America (4) and Oceania (2).
The feedback was positive: 50 feedback forms returned from 85 participants (59%). Almost 70% of the 50 respondents to the Feedback questionnaire, read the hypothetical in advance and 60% had more than 3 yrs of merger experience.
The most relevant/beneficial aspects of the workshop were the use of breakout sessions which facilitated face-to-face contact with other agencies’ staff and the sharing views and approaches during small-group discussions.
ICN Investigative Techniques Workshop (Brussels 2004)