Replay! October 11 Merger Working Group seminar on data
Now available: The Merger Working Group’s October 11 seminar on Control of Data, Market Power and Potential Competition in Merger Reviews
Enjoy viewing and re-viewing this video via the link below.
2022 ICN Kickoff call on new work -- 6 JULY
Join us for a “Kickoff Call” for the new ICN Year
Hear from the ICN Working Groups on New Work Product and How to Get Involved in this Year’s Projects
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
08:00– 09:00 (Ottawa) / 14:00-15:00 (Bonn)
Join us for this kickoff call of the new ICN year. Co-chairs from each ICN working group – Advocacy, Agency Effectiveness, Cartels, Mergers, and Unilateral Conduct – will present new work product, work plans for 2022/2023, and opportunities to participate in this year’s projects.
We look forward to speaking with you on Wednesday, July 6.
2022 ICN-WBG Competition Advocacy Contest Award Ceremony
Competition Advocacy Contest 2022: Watch the Award Ceremony!
The International Competition Network (ICN) and the World Bank Group were pleased to announce the winners and honorable mentions of the 2022 Competition Advocacy Contest on May 5th during the ICN Annual Conference held in Berlin, Germany.
This contest aims to highlight the key role competition agencies, sector regulators and other governmental bodies or non-governmental organizations play in promoting competition by showcasing their advocacy success stories.
For more information about the awards and their stories, click below.
2022 ICN Conference Press Release
6 May, Berlin
On May 6, the 21st annual conference of the International Competition Network concluded in Berlin, hosted by the German Bundeskartellamt. Over 350 participants from more than 80 jurisdictions participated in the three day event for competition agencies and ICN non-governmental advisors including competition academics, practitioners, and other international organizations. The ICN is a virtual network of competition agencies dedicated to promoting cooperation and understanding for effective competition law enforcement through experience sharing, policy discussions, and written work product based on agency practices and perspectives. ICN members collaborate year round in working groups on vital topics of relevance to competition agencies.
In 2022, the focus of ICN ongoing work and conference discussions covers vigorous enforcement in digital markets, agency operations during the pandemic and recovery, and fundamentals of effective enforcement in markets across member economies. The conference held panels and breakout discussions on addressing killer acquisitions, regulatory and competition law tools in digital markets, and economic tools to evaluate large volumes of data. More discussions evaluated the standard of proof for competition law cases, anti-cartel enforcement trends, cross-border agency cooperation, the intersection of competition, consumer protection, and data privacy, markets affected by the pandemic, sustainability and competition, gender-inclusive competition policy, leniency, and effective competition remedies.
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.
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.
Steering Group confirms Margarida Matos Rosa, AdC, as new ICN Vice Chair
ICN Steering Group confirms Margarida Matos Rosa, AdC, as new ICN Vice Chair for Growth and Recovery
On 30 March 2022 the ICN Steering Group confirmed Margarida Matos Rosa as new Vice Chair for Growth and Recovery.
Margarida Matos Rosa has been actively engaged with the ICN since becoming President of the Portuguese Competition Authority (AdC) in 2016. As ICN Vice Chair, she will focus her work on promoting the discussion of competition principles in the context of growth and recovery – a particularly relevant issue in these unprecedented times –,within the ICN and with external stakeholders.
Margarida Matos Rosa will work together with the ICN’s other Vice Chair, Tembinkosi Bonakele, Commissioner of the South African Competition Commission.
The ICN thanks Rod Sims, former Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), for his leadership as Vice Chair for Digital Co-ordination and Asia-Pacific Liaison, until his term as Chair of the ACCC came to an end in March 2022.
2022 ICN Merger Workshop, March 29-April 1
Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense CADE is pleased to invite you to the 2022 ICN Merger Workshop.
The Workshop will offer insight into current merger-related topics and post-pandemic scenarios, bringing together ICN members and non-governmental advisors (NGAs) to discuss a range of competition enforcement and antitrust matters, competitive concerns, merger reporting issues, and remedies, including recent challenges authorities have been facing and new digital solutions developed to address them.
The workshop will be held in Salvador, Brazil, between 29 March and 1 April as a hybrid event.
The event will be live streamed for ICN members and registered NGAs.
More information, including registration, is available on the workshop website: ICN 2022 SALVADOR, (cade.gov.br)
Please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] should you have any additional questions regarding for the Merger Workshop 2022.
ICN Chair's Statement
2 March 2022
ICN Chair’s Statement – Current events in Ukraine
The International Competition Network (ICN) is a network of 140 competition authorities from 130 jurisdictions. The ICN was founded to facilitate cooperation and convergence between authorities worldwide. Russia’s competition authority, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS Russia) and the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine are both members of the ICN.
As a global community of competition agencies, the ICN’s activities take place on a voluntary basis and rely on a high degree of goodwill and cooperation among members. ICN Members are in continuous contact, working together to improve competition policy and cooperation between authorities. Members of the network regularly meet to develop common standards and exchange views.
Based on Section 3.4 iv (e) of the ICN’s Operational Framework, the Chair is responsible for the “general conduct of the affairs of the ICN where not otherwise specified to be within the responsibility of any Group or Committee.” In light of the current events in Ukraine and their impact on collaboration among ICN members, the conduct of the affairs of the network is impeded and needs to be addressed.
The ICN Chair at the request of Steering Group members and other ICN members has reviewed FAS Russia’s participation in the network. After consultation with the members of the Steering Group the Chair has decided to suspend FAS Russia’s participation in ICN activities.
Should the circumstances change, the ICN Chair, after consultation with Steering Group members will reconsider and adapt this position.
FAS Russia has been informed accordingly.
Andreas Mundt
ICN Chair