The concept for the ICN came directly out of the recommendations of the International Competition Policy Advisory Committee (ICPAC), a group formed in 1997 by then U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Joel Klein. ICPAC was commissioned to think broadly about international competition in the context of economic globalization and focused on issues like multi-jurisdictional merger review, the interface between trade and competition, and the future direction for cooperation between antitrust agencies. In its final report, issued in February 2000, ICPAC called on the United States to explore the creation of a new venue — a "Global Competition Initiative" — where government officials, as well as private firms and non-governmental organisations, would be able to consult on antitrust matters. ICPAC recommended that the Global Competition Initiative be directed toward a "greater convergence of competition law and analysis, common understanding, and common culture."

Recognizing that the best way to promote sound and effective antitrust enforcement in the wake of increased economic globalization is through a network of competition authorities and other specialists from around the globe, government officials and members of the antitrust bar embraced ICPAC’s recommendations for a Global Competition Initiative. At a conference held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the EC Merger Control Regulation, in Brussels in September 2000, both Joel Klein and Mario Monti, European Commissioner for Competition, expressed their support for such an initiative. Shortly thereafter, at the Fordham Corporate Law Institute’s annual conference on international antitrust law and policy, A. Douglas Melamed, then Acting Assistant Attorney General for the U.S., and Commissioner Mario Monti, reiterated their agencies’ support for the initiative and offered additional insight.

Following these endorsements, the International Bar Association convened a meeting of more than 40 of the world’s senior competition officials and practitioners in Ditchley Park, England in early February 2001 to discuss the feasibility of a global antitrust network. The Ditchley Park discussions were positive and forward-looking, and there was great support for the idea of establishing a new organisation directed exclusively at international antitrust enforcement.

In October 2001, top antitrust officials from 14 jurisdictions – Australia, Canada, European Union, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, and Zambia – launched the ICN.