See the Hong Kong Competition Commission’s educational and training awareness materials (including videos) here.

http://www.compcomm.hk/en/usefulresources_competition.html

http://www.compcomm.hk/en/advertisements_publicity_videos.html

See the speech by Hon’ble Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley at the ICN Merger Workshop organised by the Competition Commission of India on 1st December 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl8kNu7mBymD7jxfSmIxiPQ

From the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies at Loyola University Chicago: “The Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies of Loyola University Chicago School of Law is pleased to announce the world’s first fully on-line LLM (Master of Laws) and MJ (Master of Jurisprudence) degree programs in Global Competition Law.  While the Global Competition Law programs will be available to persons anywhere in the world, it is aimed at the public and private sectors outside the United States to provide a sophisticated and consistent base of knowledge for both lawyers (LLM) and non-lawyers (MJ) working in the competition law field.  There is great demand for such training, the on-line nature of the program is well-suited to the international nature of the intended student audience, and there is no known on-line program of this nature anywhere in the world.  We anticipate enrolling the first class of students in late August of 2015.

The overall desired outcomes and goals of the Global Competition Law program is to provide the students with the knowledge and skills they need to become effective competition and consumer advocates in their home jurisdictions.  The program will combine both theory and practice to contribute to the continued professionalization of the competition and consumer community in both the public and private sectors.  In so doing, the program will contribute to the development of the rule of law and economic justice on a global scale.

The global competition law LLM and MJ programs will have the same basic structure and requirements.  The principal difference will be the optional LLM thesis offering with no such requirement for the MJ degree. Both degrees will consist of 20 credit hours consisting of four required courses and four elective courses chosen from a menu of 8-10 additional offerings.   Both programs are offered on a part-time basis to be completed in two years to accommodate working professionals.  Tuition will be scaled to the level of economic development in the student’s jurisdiction.

For more information click here or send an email here.”

The Competition Commission of India is organised a Workshop on “Public Procurement & Competition Law” on 9th March, 2015. You can get access to the presentation material here.

22nd St.Gallen International Competition Law Forum ICF: 23 and 24 April 2015

The St.Gallen ICF has a history of attracting reputable speakers and interested participants from European competition authorities, the advocacy, academia, public offices as well as major international companies. They not only hail from Switzerland and Europe, but some travel to St.Gallen from North America and Asia to share their experience and to discuss the current topics of the field. Cornerstones of each St.Gallen ICF iteration are the ‘Speech by the Commissioner’ and the ‘Presidents’ breakfast’. The conference is very proud to have some of the most distinguished speakers in the field, including Vincent Martenet (President, Swiss Competition Authority), Agnete Gersing (Director General, Danish Competition and Consumer Authority), Bruno Lasserre (President, French Competition Authority) and Giovanni Pitruzzella (Chairman, Italian Competition Authority).
Another highlight of the conference will be an interview of Carl Baudenbacher (President, EFTA Court; Director CC-EIL, University of St.Gallen HSG) on the EFTA Court´s contributions to European competition law. This very interactive panel will be lead by Lewis Crofts (Chief Correspondent Europe, MLex) and David Lawsky (Consultant, Fipra International).

Further information including a detailed programme can be found on the conference website: www.sg-icf.ch. An online registration (http://www.sg-icf.ch/conference-registration/) is available.

Date: 23rd and 24th of April 2015
Location: St.Gallen, Switzerland
Programme: http://www.sg-icf.ch/schedule
Flyer: http://www.sg-icf.ch/flyer
If you have any questions, contact: contact@sg-icf.ch.

George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, Virginia, USA invites all interested candidates to join them on Monday, March 2, 2015, at the Fairmont Singapore for an informational reception to learn more about the Masters of Law (LLM) program.  Attending this event will be leading scholars in the field of antitrust and competition law and George Mason University School of Law faculty members. For more information and to register for the event, click here.

Dear ICN Community,

I would like to use this opportunity to wish all of you a happy and prosperous new year! We have interesting events to look forward to in the ICN. I am also very happy to note that the ICN is continuing to grow as a community and that we are able to welcome new members to the ICN continuously.

2015 Annual Conference

• The next annual conference will take place from April 28 until May 1, 2015, in Sydney, Australia. Conference panels will discuss agency effectiveness, competition advocacy, the legal analysis of tying arrangements, international enforcement cooperation in cartel and merger investigations, and merger remedies. This year’s host’s “special project” will focus on online vertical restraints. The responses will serve as the springboard for discussion at the annual conference host’s showcase program. More information on the conference including a first draft agenda is available on the conference website at www.icn2015.com.au

• Registration is open until March 2 and I encourage you to register as soon as possible. Like in the past, NGAs will be invited by their National Competition Authorities to attend the event.

• Request for Member Input at the Sydney Conference: Work is underway for presentation at the Sydney conference, including guidance documents, workbook chapters, reports, and video training modules. A key input into these work products is member experiences. I kindly request that you review the themes of the plenary and breakout sessions of the conference agenda, which will be updated with this information by January 30, 2015. Please contact the Working Group co-chair, if your jurisdiction may be able to share its experience during the Sydney conference.

ICN Town Hall Meeting

At the end of last year, I held another ICN Town Hall meeting with ICN members and NGAs. Bruno Lasserre, President, France’s Autorité de la Concurrence, and Vinicius Marques de Carvalho, President of the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense, responsible for member and NGA engagement, and outreach and implementation, respectively, we presented an overview of topics addressed by the Steering Group during this past year, including suggestions for regular strategic planning; possible discussion on sectors in hot topic discussions at the Steering Group level; inclusiveness, including funding and the implementation and marketing of ICN’s work. I also reiterated my commitment to advancing our three core themes – the focus of ICN work products, inclusiveness of members and NGAs, and bolstering efforts to promote the implementation of ICN work products. They should form an integral part of our future work.

Working Groups

• Congratulations to our Working Groups for hosting three very successful workshops. The Cartel Working Group hosted a workshop on “Enhancing International Cooperation in the Fight against Cartels” in October 2014 in Taipei, Taiwan. The Advocacy Working Group hosted a workshop in Balaclava, Mauritius in November 2014. And last but not least the Merger Working Group concluded its workshop in New Delhi, India in December 2014.

• In Search Of New Working Group Chairs: Since 2011, Working Groups are co-chaired by three agencies in an effort to broaden participation in the ICN’s governance and enable more members to assume responsibility for the management of Working Groups. ICN Members interested in serving as a Working Group co-chair and Subgroup co-chair for a three year term from 2015-2018 are asked to submit an expression of interest to the ICN Secretariat, outlining how they meet the selection criteria by February 13, 2015. The criteria are set out in section 4.2 of the Operational Framework.

• Future Work: Even though we have now progressed to the busiest time of the ICN year, I urge all of you to already think about future work. The Working Groups are currently drafting the work plans for the upcoming ICN year. I strongly encourage the entire ICN community to think about what you would like to see on the agenda and to reach out by participating on Working Group conference calls, or contacting the respective Working Group Chairs as soon as possible or the latest during the 2015 Annual Conference.

ICN Funding

Even though the ICN is a virtual network, the face-to-face meetings at workshops and Annual Conferences play a vital part in the success of the ICN. To enable as many ICN members as possible to benefit from these meetings and to maintain the ICN’s website, the ICN is dependent on funding contributions from members. The ICN’s website is a central communication hub for our members, NGAs and interested parties to view and engage in the work of the ICN. I therefore would like to encourage ICN members to contribute financially any amount to the ICN.

I look forward to working with all of you and welcome your feedback on any of the above or other ideas you may wish to share. Please also feel free to contact my colleagues at the International Unit, Barbara Schulze and Shiraz Kutar.

With best wishes for a new year,

Andreas Mundt

Dear ICN Members,

We are glad that the 2014 Competition Advocacy Contest, launched by the International Competition Network in cooperation with the World Bank Group, has raised a lot of interest. For more information on the contest, see: http://www.worldbank.org/en/events/2014/11/26/2014-competition-advocacy-contest

The deadline to submit stories for this year’s Competition Advocacy contest has been extended until February 27th.

We welcome member agency participation!

The CNMC (Spain) has launched a public consultation on the new models for service delivery and the sharing economy. You are kindly invited to read all the details and contribute here.

Materials comprising the hypothetical case study discussed at the 2014 ICN Merger Workshop hosted by the Competition Commission of India are available here.