News & Events

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]