MWG: Sound Decision Making

Join us for another session of ICN’s 2020 Fall Seminar Series!

The ICN Merger Working Group
Presents a Fall Webinar on
Sound Decision Making
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
8.00 (EST) / 13.00 (GMT) / 14.00 (CET)

This webinar shall discuss topics addressed during the Merger Working Group’s regional webinars on sound decision making in merger assessment, such as evidence-based decision making, transparency, independence, and anti-bribery.

Moderator
Joel Bamford
Senior Director, Mergers
Competition and Markets Authority, UK

Speakers
Patricia Brink
Director of Professional Development
Antitrust Division, USA

Kaoru Harada
Senior Officer, M&A Division
Fair Trade Commission, Japan

Cristiane Landerdahl de Albuquerque
Head of Merger & Antitrust Unit for Regulated Markets
CADE, Brazil

Raphael Mburu
Manager, Mergers and Acquisitions
Competition Authority, Kenya

 

Interested agencies and NGAs can contact the MWG Co-chairs and ask for the dial-in details. 


UCWG: Digital Markets seminar

Join us for another session of ICN’s 2020 Fall Seminar Series!

Please join us for an ICN UCWG webinar on the Report on the Results of the ICN Survey on Dominance/Substantial Market Power in Digital Markets” on 27 October 2020, 9:00 EDT/14:00 CET.

Speakers will share experience on key elements of the report and will discuss what further guidance may be needed to help agencies assess market power in digital markets.

Moderator:

Ekaterina Rousseva,  Policy and case coordinator, European Commission, DG Competition

Speakers:

Simone Wong, Principal Economist, Competition and Consumer Economics Unit, ACCC, Australia

Dr. Sebastian Wismer, Head of Unit Digital Economy, Bundeskartellamt, Germany

Sergio Rodriguez Garcia, Director General for Market Investigations, COFECE, Mexico

Yves Botteman, Partner, Dentons Europe LLP, Brussels, Belgium, also UCWG NGA for DG Competition

 

Best regards,

Interested agencies and NGAs can contact the UCWG Co-chairs and ask for the dial-in details. 


ICN Framework on Competition Agency Procedures (CAP)

Join us for another session of ICN’s 2020 Fall Seminar Series!

Join us for a Fall Webinar on:

Framework for Competition Agency Procedures:  Participant Perspectives

Tuesday, October 20th, 2020

08:00 EDT / 14:00 CEDT

 

Fair and effective procedures are essential to sound competition law enforcement and can increase opportunities for international cooperation. Following the desire expressed by several competition agencies to further cooperate on fundamental principles of fair and effective procedures, the ICN established a Framework on Competition Agency Procedures (the “CAP”). This webinar will mark the first gathering of participants since the CAP was signed in May of 2019.  The webinar will review highlights from the templates submitted by participants and feature several perspectives on how the CAP agreement and completion of templates have provided opportunities for self assessment, regional dialogue on procedures, and more productive engagement with private parties.

Speakers:
Reiko Aoki
Commissioner,  Japan Fair Trade Commission

Gudmundur Haukur Gudmundsson
Division Manager & International Coordinator
Icelandic Competition Authority

Francis Kariuki
Director General, Competition Authority of Kenya

Sergio López Rodríguez
Head of the Investigative Authority
Federal Economic Competition Commission of Mexico

John Pecman
Senior Business Advisor
Fasken Martineau, ICN NGA

Moderator
Marcus Bezzi
Executive General Manager, Specialised Enforcement and Advocacy Division
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

 

Interested agencies and NGAs can contact the CAP Co-chairs and ask for the dial-in details


2019-2020 ICN/WBG Competition Advocacy Contest Session

Join us for the first session of ICN’s 2020 Fall Seminar Series!

Session Flyer

The 2019-2020 ICN-WBG Competition Advocacy Contest

Competition as a tool to reap the benefits and mitigate the costs of the new economy: Jobs, industry and data

Tuesday, 22nd September 2020
8:00-9:30 EDT (Washington D.C.) / 14:00-15:30 CEDT (Rome)

Follow on YouTube Link


Moderator: Andrea Minuto Rizzo, Head of International Affairs Office, Italian Competition Authority (AGCM)

Opening remarks:
Andreas Mundt, ICN Steering Group Chair and President of Bundeskartellamt

Introduction:
Georgiana Pop, Global Lead, Competition Policy, World Bank Group

Alessandra Tonazzi, Director of the European and International Affairs Directorate, Italian Competition Authority (AGCM)


Awards announcements & discussion:

Theme 1: Unleashing competition for more and better jobs
Presenter: Mariana Tavares, Partner, Levy & Salomão Advogados

Theme 2 – Aligning industrial policies with competition principles
Presenter: Georgiana Pop, Global Lead, Competition Policy, World Bank Group

Theme 3 – Promoting pro-competition data regulation
Presenter: Alessandra Tonazzi, Director of the European and International Affairs Directorate, Italian Competition Authority

Theme 4 – Boosting policy effectiveness through better coordination between enforcement and advocacy
Presenter: Eleanor Fox, Walter J. Derenberg Professor of Trade Regulation at New York University School of Law


ICN 2020 Fall Seminar Series

The ICN’s 19th annual conference was held 14-17 September. Materials are online on the conference webpages.

Missing ICN content already? No need! The ICN is announcing a 2020 Fall Seminar Series. Stay tuned for these ICN Events every Tuesday into November!

The link to attend the first session on 22 September on the 2019-2020 ICN-World Bank Competition Advocacy Contest is available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf5WKbz7TiI

Links and participation information for future sessions will be made available by working groups.

ICN FALL WEBINAR SERIES

Date Time

Session

Tuesday,

22 September

8:00 EDT / 14:00 CEDT Advocacy Working Group:  ICN World Bank Competition Advocacy Contest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf5WKbz7TiI

Tuesday,

29 September

8:00 EDT / 14:00 CEDT Merger Working Group:  Procedural Infringements
Tuesday,

6 October

8:00 EDT / 14:00 CEDT Cartel Working Group:  Horizontal Agreements on Sustainability in a World on Fire
Tuesday,

13 October

8:00 EDT / 14:00 CEDT Agency Effectiveness Working Group: 

Enforcement Priorities in Action: Agency Effectiveness Perspective

Tuesday,

20 October

8:00 EDT / 14:00 CEDT ICN Framework for Competition Agency Procedures:  Participant Perspectives
Tuesday,

27 October

9:00 EDT / 14:00 CEST Unilateral Conduct Working Group:

Dominance/Substantial Market Power in Digital Markets Report

Tuesday,

3 November

8:00 EST / 14:00 CEST Merger Working Group:  Sound Decision Making
Tuesday,

10 November

8:00 EST / 14:00 CEST ICN Training on Demand Showcase


News Release: ICN 2020 Annual Conference

Quality, Spirit and Professionalism

International Competition Network discusses digital economy and announces full self-evaluation of ICN

The International Competition Network (ICN) held its 19th annual conference on September 14-17, 2020. The conference was the ICN’s first virtual conference. Originally planned as an in-person conference in Los Angeles in May, the conference transitioned to a virtual format as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ICN is the most important network of competition authorities worldwide. It comprises 140 competition agencies from 129 jurisdictions. Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, has been the ICN Steering Group Chair since September 2013.

Andreas Mundt, ICN Chair and President of the Bundeskartellamt: “Over 2500 delegates from around the world participated in the conference. I want to thank our host agencies FTC and DOJ, the ICN working group co-chairs and everyone involved.”

Andreas Mundt opened the conference and spoke on a panel on remedies in unilateral conduct cases involving digital markets. Other sessions dealt with competition enforcement in the digital economy, big data and cartelization, competition advocacy in the digital age, merger investigations in the digital sector, and competition agencies’ strategies to address the challenges of the digital economy. Additional sessions dedicated to younger agencies, ICN Non-Governmental Advisors and economists took place on conference day four.

The ICN also announced plans for a full self-evaluation of the network, the “Third Decade Review”. Andreas Mundt: “ICN will turn 20 next year and we will look at tools, structure and topics to shape the ICN for its third decade. The ICN is well equipped to keep on improving and developing, maybe the most important skill these days. Quality, spirit and professionalism will enable the ICN to tackle the issues that matter for its members.”

A recording of the conference will be available on the ICN conference webpage after the close of the conference. Supplemental annual conference programming will be held throughout the fall.

ICN work products, the ICN working group work plans and additional information on future events are available on the ICN website.


2020 Annual Conference

19th Annual International Competition Network Conference starts today

The International Competition Network’s (ICN) 19th annual conference opens today at 8:00am EDT/2:00pm CEST and runs through Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. The network’s first-ever virtual annual conference will be co-hosted by the US Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.

Originally planned as an in-person event in Los Angeles in May, the multi-day conference features discussions across a range of competition enforcement and policy issues, particularly those that involve the digital economy, and highlights the progress of the ICN working groups on mergers, cartels, unilateral conduct, advocacy and agency effectiveness. Conference participants include leaders and staff of ICN member agencies, competition experts from international organizations, and non-governmental advisors (NGAs) from the legal, business, and academic communities. 

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt and ICN Chair said, “The 2020 ICN Annual Conference has a clear focus: the digital economy. This is where we as enforcers are in the spotlight and have to deliver results. We are on track but we need to carry the momentum into our agencies and multiply it in the ICN. Our co-hosts did a great job transforming the L.A. conference into a virtual event.”

Registration is not required. The web address to attend is available on the ICN 2020 Virtual Annual Conference’s website.


2020 ICN Virtual Annual Conference

The first virtual ICN Annual Conference will take place from 14-17 September 2020. Our joint virtual hosts, the US DoJ and US FTC, together with the ICN Working Group Co-chairs have organized a compact conference week and a series of additional sessions that are linked to the main conference week but will take place later this year.


2020 ICN NGA Toolkit

The ICN has created a new guide for NGA engagement. This NGA toolkit has been produced to provide guidance to member agencies and to existing and prospective NGAs on NGA engagement. NGAs are competition experts from all backgrounds – lawyers and economists in private practice, inhouse
counsels, representatives of non-governmental international organizations, members of industry and consumer groups, academics and judges – who volunteer to contribute to the ICN’s work.

NGA Toolkit