ICN's 20th Annual Conference

The International Competition Network (ICN) held its 20^th annual conference from 13 to 15 October. The event hosted by the Hungarian Competition Authority took place in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ICN is the most important network of competition authorities worldwide. It comprises 140 competition agencies from 130 jurisdictions. At the conference, the ICN Steering Group re-elected Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, as Chair for the 2021-2022 term.

“The ICN has provided the basis for 20 years of successful multilateral cooperation. Congratulations to our colleagues in Hungary for organizing the ICN Anniversary Conference!” Andreas Mundt, ICN Chair and President of the Bundeskartellamt. “We are entering the ICN’s third decade and it is time to look ahead: Digitalization will remain a key issue. Sustainability is the second topic which will lead to a major transformation and will require our attention. The third challenge for competition agencies is the interaction with other areas of law. We will have to keep an open mind.”

The conference host presented a panel about sustainability and competition law. The ICN Advocacy Working Group panellists shared views and experiences on how companies, with limited resources and capabilities, could best manage to ensure compliance with competition law. The Agency Effectiveness Working Group discussed the opportunities and challenges for competition agencies in the post-COVID world. The Cartel Working Group addressed issues and challenges in international cooperation in the fight against cross-border cartels. The Merger Working Group discussed merger control in the ICN’s third decade. The Unilateral Conduct Working Group explored how agencies deal with challenges they face when analysing theories of harm and designing remedies in unilateral conduct cases in digital markets.

Three other panels looked at the intersection between competition, consumer protection and privacy, international cooperation, and the implementation of ICN work. A breakout session presented first results of the ICN Third Decade Review, a self-evaluation of the network looking at tools, structure and topics to provide a roadmap for the ICN during its third decade.

A recording of the conference will be available on the ICN conference webpage.

The 21^st ICN Annual Conference will take place in Berlin from 4 to 6 May 2022. The ICN 2022 conference video is available here.