Seminar: Role of Digital Experts

Webinar recording: Shaping agency digital transformation: the role of digital experts

In March, the AEWG co-chairs organized a webinar discussion on how agencies are acquiring and integrating digital expertise in order to achieve effective and efficient enforcement in the digital age. The webinar explored:

  • what digital skills and competencies are valuable in digital transformation and how agencies are acquiring them
  • how to bridge analogue and digital expertise
  • the role of non-traditional digital experts (e.g., digital transformation/enforcement officers, data scientists/engineers/analysts, IT forensic experts or other similar roles) in agencies’ digitalisation efforts
  • the digital experts’ perspective (e.g., what a typical work day for a digital expert looks like, innovative tools/approaches they employ in their work, as well as challenges/obstacles they encounter in their role)

Link to the webinar recording below.

Link to Seminar video

Seminar: Use of Screens in Antitrust

Use of Screens in Antitrust

In March, the Agency Effectiveness Working Group organized an economic seminar on “Use of Screens in Antitrust.” The panelists shared their experiences in recent investigations involving screens in detecting anti-competitive behavior, with examples from procurement and retail settings, addressing questions such as:

  • What are examples of recent cases where you have used screens?
  • What types of screens or markers did you use?
  • What are the economic challenges in using those screens?

Relive the seminar in the link below.

Link to Seminar video

Implementing Effective Leniency Programs -- CWG webinar 26 January


Please join us to the first webinar of the Cartel Working Group on “Implementing Effective Leniency Programs: Lessons Learnt and Challenges Ahead” which will take place on 26 January 2022 (Wednesday) at –  2:00 pm CET – Europe Time.

Moderator:

–          Mr Pedro Callol – Partner, Callol, Coca & Asociados , Spain

Speakers:

–          Mr Juan David Gutiérrez- Professor, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia

–          Mr David Fernández – Advisor of the Direction of Investigation and Promotion of Defense of Competition, INDECOPI, Peru

–          Ms Armine Hakobyan – Deputy Director of the Department of Competition and Public Procurement Policy, Eurasian Economic Commission

–          Mr Nick Wilkins- Principal Adviser Criminalization, Cartel Investigations Team, New Zealand Commerce Commission, New Zealand

–          Mr David Anderson – Partner, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, Belgium

With the increased enforcement efforts against cartels, many ICN member agencies have adopted leniency programs over the years. “Leniency programs” are an important instrument in the fight against cartels since competition agencies can more easily uncover and sanction cartel participants by protecting the first applicant immune from punishment or by giving other applicants reduced sanctions. Information or evidence can be obtained “first-hand” and faster by competition agencies. They also form a deterrence mechanism for those who plan to be a part of cartel arrangements.
On the other hand, there are also some challenges that might prevent effective and efficient leniency programs such as private enforcement and regulatory interventions. Furthermore, the globalization of business and the consequent rise in the number of cartels with international scope together poses new difficulties and challenges in the investigation, in light of the proliferation of leniency systems among competition authorities, highlighting the importance of increased co-operation on both procedural and substantive issues.

The ICN CWG has addressed these issues in many of its work products, including Guidance on Enhancing Cross-Border Leniency Cooperation (2020) http://internationalcompetitionnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/CWG-Leniency-Coordination-Guidance.pdf and Report on Good Practices for Incentivising Leniency Applications (2019) http://internationalcompetitionnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CWG-Good-practices-for-incentivising-leniency.pdf

For more information about this seminar, please contact the organiser at: [email protected]


ICN Virtual Spotlight with ACCC Chair Rod Sims

ICN Virtual Spotlight

Competition Enforcement in the Digital Economy

Rod Sims, Chair Australia Competition and Consumer Commission and ICN Vice Chair

Andreas Mundt, President Bundeskartellamt and ICN Chair

 

Andreas Mundt and Rod Sims on the future direction of competition enforcement in the digital economy

On 13 December ICN Chair Andreas Mundt sat down for a candid discussion with Rod Sims, Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Rod is the ICN Vice Chair for Digital Coordination and Asia Pacific Liaison. In this 1:1 spotlight Andreas and Rod pondered the future direction of competition enforcement in the digital economy.

Please click the link below for video of the the webinar.

Link to video


Intersection of Competition, Consumer Protection, & Privacy - September 7

THIRD ICN WEBINAR ON
COMPETITION LAW ENFORCEMENT AT THE INTERSECTION OF COMPETITION, CONSUMER PROTECTION, AND PRIVACY

Tuesday, September 7, 2021 at 8:00 am EDT/ 2:00 pm CEST

 Please join us for this ICN Webinar on the ICN Steering Group’s project on competition law enforcement at the intersection of competition, consumer protection, and privacy, and more specifically, on its issues identification paper.

The webinar – which will take place on Tuesday, September 7 at 8:00am EDT/ 2:00pm CEST – is the third of four series for ICN members and Non-Governmental Advisors to hear from academia, privacy forum, private practitioners. The relationship between competition and consumer laws and policies has been topical for a decade or more and, if anything, has become more complex. The webinar will explore how the competition/consumer/privacy intersection should be navigated through an examination of the varied ways in which the different regimes may in practice interact with one another.


Moderator:
John Fingleton, Fingleton
Speakers:
Andrea Minuto Rizzo, Italian Competition Authority (AGCM)
Morag Bond, Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC)
Eliana Garces, Facebook
Emily Hart, Motion Mobs

 

For more information about the call, please email the co-chairs of the intersection project.


ICN Town Hall for Younger Agencies - June 22

Join us for a
ICN Town Hall
Younger Agencies in the Third Decade of the ICN
(For competition agencies only)
Tuesday June 22, 2021 08:00 EDT (Washington D.C.) / 14:00 CEST (Bonn)

 

Moderator: Alejandra Palacios, ICN Vice-Chair for Younger Agencies and Regional Diversity and Chairwoman of the Mexican Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE)

Opening Panel: Gabriel Vásquez, Superintendence for the Control of Market Power, Ecuador • Alessandra Tonazzi, Italian Competition Authority, Italy • Ninette Mwarania, Competition Authority of Kenya, Kenya

Join us for a Town Hall discussion on the role of younger agencies in light of ICN’s third decade of existence. This session will focus on three topics: implementation of ICN work products, leadership and overall benefits of active ICN participation.

 

For more information about the call, please email the organizers at: [email protected]


Assessing Crisis Cartels at times of Covid 19 -- CWG webinar materials


Webinar Materials: Assessing Crisis Cartels at times of Covid 19

In May 2021, the Cartel Working Group organized a webinar on crisis cartels and the COVID-19 pandemic. The materials from the call are available.


Compliance in Cartels -- CWG webinar materials


Webinar Materials: Compliance in Cartel Cases

In April 2021, the Cartel Working Group organized a webinar on compliance and cartels. The materials from the call are available.


Compliance in Cartel Cases - April 7


The Cartel Working Group

Presents a Webinar on:
Compliance in Cartel Cases
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
8 am New York/ 2pm Brussels

 

An earlier CWG webinar on ‘Compliance in Cartel Cases’ received great interest from the member agencies and NGAs. Therefore, the ICN Cartel Working Group aims to discuss this topic more in detail in this webinar.

Moderator:

Mr. Diogo Thomson, Deputy Superintendent, Brazilian Competition Authority (CADE), Brazil

 Panelists:

Ms. Alessandra Tonazzi, Director of the EU & International Affairs, Italian Competition Authority (AGCM), Italy

Mr. Joseph Walser, Deputy Director, Criminal Enforcement Division Irish Competition Authority, Ireland

Ms. Paula Yanguas, Senior case handler, Spanish Competition Authority, Spain

Mr. Hideyuki Shimozu, Senior Investigator for International Cartel, Japanese Competition Authority (JFTC), Japan

Mr. Eyitayo St. Matthew Daniel, Assistant Chief, New York Field Office, DOJ Antitrust Division, USA

Ms. Charlotte Ho, Head (Investigations I), Competition Commission Hong Kong (HKCC), Hong Kong

Mr. Subrata Bhattacharjee, Partner, BLG, Canada

Ms. Christina Hummer, Attorney at Law / Partner, SCWP Schindhelm, Austria

 

 

For more information about the call, please email the CWG organizers at: [email protected]


AWG Webinar on Effective Competition Advocacy Initiatives - March 29


ICN AWG Webinar on “Effective competition advocacy initiatives: re-thinking the ICN Advocacy Toolkit”

Monday, March 29th, 2021
7:00-8:00 a.m. (Colombia time)
8:00 – 9:00 a.m. (Washington time)
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. (Norway time)
8:00 – 9:00 p.m. (Hong Kong time)
11:00 – 12:00 p.m. (Melbourne time)

Join here: https://bit.ly/3tREgsx

Documentation: ICN Advocacy Toolkit Part I

Click here for webinar promotional flyer

The ICN Advocacy Working Group is currently reviewing the components/steps for effective advocacy projects displayed in the ICN Advocacy Toolkit. The purpose of this multi-year project is to ensure these components are relevant and useful for competition agencies’ current operating environment, and also, to refresh the case studies in the Toolkit with recent and diverse experiences from ICN members.
This webinar will help us explore (i) how operating environments have evolved since the toolkit was launched; (ii) what are the most relevant competition policy challenges of our time; (iii) what are the most exemplar advocacy approaches to these challenges; and, finally, (iv) what is next to come for competition authorities.

Moderator:
Mr. Juan Pablo Herrera Saavedra
Deputy Superintendent for Competition Protection, Superintendencia de Industria y
Comercio

Speakers:
Ms. Martha Martínez Licetti
Competition Policy Team Leader for the Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice at World Bank Group
Dr. Diana L. Moss
President of the American Antitrust Institute
Ms. Cristiana Vitale
Senior Economist and Competition Policy Expert, Economics Department at OECD
Dr. Wendy Ng
Director of the Competition Law and Economics Network and Associate Director (China) of the Asian Law Centre
Ms. Teresa Moreira
Head of the Competition and Consumer Policies Branch at UNCTAD