Last week ACCC Chairman Rod Sims presented on delivering prosperity through broad based microeconomic and competition reform at the 2013 Foro Mexico, organized by the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the OECD, and UNCTAD. Chairman Sims offers a concise and comprehensive account of the amazing success of Australia’s National Competition Policy reform program. He [...]

Last week, the US FTC hosted its annual Microeconomics Conference bringing together researchers from universities, other government agencies, and other organizations to discuss antitrust, consumer protection, and policy issues that the economists in the FTC’s Bureau of Economics encounter in their work. Papers and presentations from the 2012 conference are available, as well as archived [...]

On 27 September 2012, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) hosted, in cooperation with the Warsaw School of Economics, the II International Competition Law Forum.
This international event was organized by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection for the second time. Representatives of the antimonopoly authorities and international organizations, lawyers, entrepreneurs and [...]

Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection is now hosting the Second International Competition Law Forum in Warsaw today and tomorrow.  During the opening address, both Vice President of the European Commission Joaquin Almunia and ICN Chair Eduardo Perez Motta highlighted the importance of increasing the visibility of, and focus on, competition policy. The speeches [...]

The Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Competition (CDPC) voluntarily submitted to a Peer Review of Competition Policy in Honduras under the Latin American Competition Forum, sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB), held in Bogota, Colombia, last September, but its presentation of its findings [...]

Today the German government revealed its refined proposal for an amendment to the German antitrust statute.
Key points include:

Giving consumer associations the right to file actions aimed at scooping off cartel profits
Extending the applicability of German antitrust law to pubic health insurance funds
Renewing the sector-specific pricing rules for (dominant) suppliers of electricity and gas
Refining the rules [...]

The Competition Commission of Singapore is inviting comments on proposed changes to its Guidelines on Merger Procedures (Guidelines).  The Guidelines were created on July 1, 2007. The CCS is now revising the Guidelines in light of  the experience in the application of the provisions of the Act to mergers it has gained over the past five [...]

The Competition Commission of Singapore has a newly refined website. A prominent feature is the user-friendly “Action Centre” including quick links to file a complaint, apply for leniency, seek guidance, or file a merger.
Also, don’t miss the CCS’s 2 minute guide to competition law – “A 2 minute wonder by CCS“!

Last month, the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB) hosted a Round Table on competition law enforcement in the mediterranean countries. A report is available.

Last month, the Belgian Competition Council adopted guidelines which explain the method it will follow for the calculation of fines.