Annual Conference of the International Competition Network in Australia

The 14th Annual Conference of the International Competition Network (ICN), hosted by the Australian Competition Authority (ACCC), concluded last Friday, May 1. Over 500 participants from more than 70 jurisdictions, including other representatives and stakeholders such as the business community, legal and economic professionals, international organisations and academics attended this year's conference which was held from April 28 until May 1 in Sydney, Australia.

The ICN is the most important network of competition authorities worldwide. It comprises of 132 competition agencies from 119 jurisdictions. Andreas Mundt, President of the German Bundeskartellamt, has been the ICN Steering Group Chair since September 2013 and was re-elected by the Steering Group for a second term on May 1.

Andreas Mundt, President of the German Bundeskartellamt: “The ICN has been a key driver for the constant development that competition law and policy have taken since the foundation of the ICN in 2001. A challenge for the future will be to ensure that the ICN continues to cater to the needs of its diverse membership which is one of the ICN's greatest assets.”

At the Conference, the past year's work products were approved, inter alia a guidance document on investigative process that reflects key investigative tools and procedural fairness principles, a new chapter for the ICN Anti-Cartel Enforcement Manual on the relationship between competition agencies and public procurement bodies, a practical guide to international cooperation in mergers, a workbook chapter on tying and bundling and a report on developing an effective competition culture.

In 2014-2015, the ACCC led a special project devoted to the treatment of on-line vertical restraints under competition law and produced a comparative report, based on responses to a survey from 47 ICN member agencies which was presented and discussed at the Conference.

The Conference once more allowed members and other stakeholders to have in-depth discussions of work products already produced and future topics. By this the ICN provides one of the most important forums for experience sharing and an informal venue for maintaining regular contacts to address practical competition concerns.

The 2016 ICN Annual Conference will be held from April 26 – 29 in Singapore, hosted by the Competition Commission of Singapore.

For more information regarding this Network, please visit the ICN website at www.internationalcompetitionnetwork.org.