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

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AEWG Webinar recording: Economist Perspectives on Market Studies

Webinar Materials: Market Studies, Economist Perspectives

In March 2021, the Agency Effectiveness Working Group organized a webinar on economist perspectives about market studies. The recording (with materials) of the call is available.

View the Webinar Recording with slides

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Hub and Spoke Cartels -- CWG webinar materials

Webinar Materials: Hub-and-Spoke Cartel Cases

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

View the Webinar RecordingView the Webinar Materials

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Barriers to Entry in Digital Markets - March 23

Unilateral Conduct WG is organising a webinar on Barriers to Entry in Digital Markets

 

Tuesday 23 March 2021, at 9:00 EDT/14:00 CET.

 

Speakers will share their experience on the topic and discuss amongst all the following issues: economies of scale and scope and network effects, ecosystems and vertical integration, data driven advantages, switching costs and behavioural bias.

 

Moderator: Bradley Callaghan, Associate Deputy Commissioner, Competition Bureau of Canada

 

Speakers:

 

Thembalethu Buthelezi, Principal Economist, South Africa Competition Commission

Paulo Casagrande, Partner at Trench, Rossi, Watanabe, Brazil

Valeria Falce, Jean Monnet Professor in EU Innovation Policy, Università Europea di Roma, Italy

 

Interested agencies and NGAs can contact the UCWG chairs at [email protected] and ask for the dial-in details. 

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Market Studies: Economist’s Perspective - March 16

The Agency Effectiveness Working Group
Presents a Webinar on:

Market Studies: Economist’s Perspective

Tuesday, March 16th, 2021
08:00-9:00 (Washington, DC – Eastern Daylight Time)
13:00-14:00 (Brussels – Central European Time)
21:00-22:00 (Tokyo – Japan Standard Time)

The ICN Agency Effectiveness Working Group is organizing an economics teleseminar on March 16th, 2021. Join our panel of Agency and NGA economists where the panellists will each be discussing their recent experiences in conducting market studies by bringing the economic perspective to the forefront. Please see below a short description of the market study each panellist will cover.

The Portuguese Competition Authority: Fintech

In October 2018, the Portuguese Competition Authority published an issues paper on
technological innovation and competition in the financial sector in Portugal. The study assessed market entry conditions for Fintech companies and provided several recommendations to mitigate existing barriers to entry and expansion. More recently, the Authority launched an extensive sector inquiry to Fintech operators to collect their views on recent market developments and the persistence of barriers to entry and expansion. Together with this sector inquiry, in which 88 operators participated, the Authority assessed the degree of implementation of its previous recommendations and revaluated existing market conditions for new entrants. The Authority found that obstacles to the development of competition and innovation persist in the Portuguese financial sector, and that the full implementation of most of the measures recommended is still pending.

The Competition & Consumer Commission of Singapore: Online Travel Booking

The CCCS market study on online travel booking in Singapore examined the commercial arrangements and practices (including price and non-price parity clauses, search rankings and ownership, drip pricing, and pre-ticked boxes) adopted by online travel booking platforms through surveys and interviews conducted with industry stakeholders and consumers. The recommendations sought to encourage all consumer-facing businesses to adopt transparent pricing practices to enable consumers to accurately compare prices and make informed purchasing decisions. Following the study, the CCCS has also undertaken an ex-ante quantitative evaluation of the consumer benefits from the study’s recommendations.

Panellists:

ANA SOFIA RODRIGUES
Chief Economist, Portuguese Competition Authority

TAN HI-LIN
Director, Policy & Markets, Competition & Consumer Commission of Singapore

Moderator:

PROF. AMELIA FLETCHER
University of East Anglia

Contact AEWG Working Group Co-Chairs:

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Assessing Horizontal Cooperation in times of Covid-19 - March 3

The Cartel Working Group

Presents a Webinar on:
Assessing Horizontal Cooperation at times of Covid-19
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
8 am New York/ 2pm Rome / 4 pm Moscow time
90 minutes

 
This webinar will explore the development and implementation, during the outbreak of the Covid-19 emergency, of policies concerning the assessment of horizontal cooperation projects. The webinar will address the procedures put in place by competition agencies in providing guidance, the expected risks and the benefits deriving from the horizontal cooperation projects.

Dial-in Numbers & Webinar Links – contact CWG Chairs

Moderator
Mr Assimakis Komninos
Partner, White & Case

Speakers
Ms Cristina Volpin
Competition Expert, OECD Competition Division

Ms Alessandra Tonazzi
Director, European & International Affairs
Italy’s AGCM

Mr Aleko Bogdanov,
Antitrust Policy Unit, DG Competition
European Commission

Mr. Hideyuki SHIMOZU
Senior Investigator for International Cartel
Japan Fair Trade Commission

Mr Diogo Thomson
Deputy Superintendent
Brazil CADE

Contact CWG Working Group Co-Chairs:

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Digitalisation, Innovation and Agency Effectiveness - March 2

The Agency Effectiveness Working Group
Presents a Webinar on:
Digitalisation, Innovation and Agency Effectiveness
Tuesday, 2 March 2021
08:00 am Washington DC / 14:00 pm Stockholm / 15:00 pm Gaborone / 21:00 pm Singapore

The AEWG co-chairs invite member agencies to join them in the discussion on how to digitalise and innovate their authorities in order to achieve effective and efficient enforcement in the digital age. The webinar will explore the following questions:

  • Agencies’ internal digital goals, strategies or tactics;
  • Recruiting or training new digital talent, creating new digital teams;
  • Innovative digital tools and technologies agencies use to increase their efficiency;
  • How COVID-19 has impacted agencies’ digital transformation.

Moderator
Dr. Barbara Seelos, Senior Case Handler and Deputy Head of Staff
Austrian Federal Competition Authority

Speakers
Mr. Stig Bendiksen Hauge, Director of Administration
Norwegian Competition Authority

Ms. Mariana Rosa, Managing Director
Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE), Brazil

Mr. Pedro Isaac Alcalá Berhouague, Head of the Digital Markets General Directorate
Mexican Competition Authority (COFECE)

Ms. Ninette Mwarania, Manager, Planning, Policy and Research
Competition Authority of Kenya

Mr. Flavio Laina, Head of Unit, Cartels V
DG COMP

Mr. Julian Daniel Jimenez Krause, IT Project Manager, Information Technology
DG COMP

Contact AEWG Working Group Co-Chairs:

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ICN Virtual Spotlight - February 2

ICN Virtual Spotlight

Leading your Agency through Change

Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive Competition and Markets Authority

Andreas Mundt, President Bundeskartellamt and ICN Chair

45 minutes, 1:1

Brexit, digitalization, the new law in Germany are just examples. A changing environment challenges competition agencies around the world. Listen to Andrea Coscelli and Andreas Mundt when they discussed how to lead an agency through change. #ICN Spotlight

Tuesday, 2 February 2021

Link to recorded event

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Advocacy Working Group Seminar -- January 28

The Advocacy Working Group

Presents a Webinar on:

Competition Advocacy to Support Robust Competition in a Post-pandemic World

Thursday, January 28, 2021

14.00 to 15.30 CET (Paris, Oslo)

The Covid-19 crisis brought about many challenges related to competition enforcement and advocacy. As the crisis developed, many competition enforcers around the globe sent clear messages that competition law would be strictly enforced and in some cases raised concerns about cooperation among businesses. At the same time, the enforcers targeted information on their websites, allocated resources to meet the demand for guidance and were involved to provide advice on government’s relief measure to businesses, which overnight lost the basis for its activity.

Now, as the Covid-19 pandemic enters a new phase with vaccines being rolled out, new advocacy challenges will materialize. The goal of advocacy strategies in this phase can on the one hand be damage control: to minimize damages caused to competition due to a significant drop in supply and demand, changes in market structure, and competition culture. However, the strategic goal can also be more ambitious: to promote the role of competition and a post-crisis pro-competitive regulatory framework to boost economic recovery, enabling economies to emerge stronger from the crisis.

This AWG webinar will discuss the challenges and the role of competition advocacy in the economic recovery after the crisis.

Moderator

  • Kjell J. Sunnevåg, Norwegian Competition Authority

Introduction

  • Bill Kovacic, Professor, George Mason University School of Law, USA
  • Ruben Maximiano, Senior Competition Expert, OECD

Country perspectives

  • Naoko Teranishi, Head of Office of Policy Planning and Research for Digital Markets, JFTC
  • Adano Wario, Director Planning Policy and Quality Assurance, Competition Authority of Kenya
  • Lars Sørgard, Director general, Norwegian Competition Authority
  • Alfonso Camba, Deputy Head of Market Studies Unit at the Advocacy Department, CNMC, Spain
  • David Lamb, Head of the Planning, Liaison and International Affairs and Rodrigo Rios, Executive Director of Regulatory Analysis and Collaboration with the Public Sector, COFECE, Mexico

For more information about the call, please contact the AWG co-chairs:

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Cartel Working Group Seminar -- January 20

The ICN Cartel Working Group Presents a Webinar on
‘‘How to detect and assess bidding cartels II.’

Agency only webinar!

Wednesday, 20 January 2021
8.00 (EST) / 13.00 (GMT) / 14.00 (CET)

The webinar intends to share jurisdiction’s experience on bidding cartels by focusing on detection methods that are successfully applied by competition authorities. Moreover, by mapping specific features of tender markets and tender design (via case studies) the webinar will also deal with the challenges of the assessment.

Moderator:
Mr Antonio CAPOBIANCO
Acting Head of Competition Division, OECD

Speakers:
Ms Natalie HARSDORF
Acting Managing Director, Austrian Federal Competition Authority, BWB

Mr Ismael BELTRÁN
Leader of the Public Procurement Collusion Task Force of Superintendency of Industry and Commerce, SIC

Mr Rory FIELD
Senior adviser on criminal cartels, Competition and Markets Authority, CMA

Mr Haim ARBIV
Head of Investigations and Intelligence Department, Israeli Competition Authority, ICA

Ms Oana NEG
Deputy Project Manager – Big Data Project, Competition Inspector, Competition Council of Romania

 

Interested agencies can contact the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) – CWG SG1 Co-chair – and ask for the dial-in details. 

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