Antitrust & Competition Policy Blog

Contemplating the Future: Personal Criminal Sanctions for Infringements of EC Competition Law

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

A new piece by Peter Whelan of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law is Contemplating the Future: Personal Criminal Sanctions for Infringements of EC Competition Law.

ABSTRACT: For hard-core cartels, criminal sanctions are not only necessary, in the sense that they help ensure optimal deterrence, they are also appropriate, especially given the secretive and typically dishonest nature of this particular activity. Criminal punishment should not extend however to the enforcement of Article 82 EC or to the 'non-hard-core' agreements under Article 81. In these cases only administrative and/or civil/private punishment should be imposed. In terms of law alone, the EC Treaty framework establishing the EC competition regime is arguably theoretically capable of providing a legal basis for EC criminalisation. Reasons can also be advanced as to why criminal sanctions should in practice be provided and/or imposed at that level. But any effort at EC criminalisation would involve significant legal and political challenges, and perhaps popular censure. It is principally for this pragmatic reason that criminalisation is best suited to national level, at least for the foreseeable future.

Association of Competition Economics Annual Meeting

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

The Association of Competition Economics has set the date for its annual meeting (this year in lovely Budapest) from Thursday November 27 till Friday November 28.

(Preliminary) Program
Thursday, November 27th -

12. 30 – 14.00 Registration of participants

14. 00 - 14.30 Welcome address

14.30-16.00 Parallel Sessions

Panel I : TomTom-Tele Atlas
Chairman: Amelia Fletcher (OFT, GB).
Speakers:
- Raphaël De Coninck (European Commission - UE)
- David Sevy (LECG - GB)
- Matthew Johnson (Oxera)
- Patrick Rey (TSE, IDEI, Fr)

Panel II : BskyB –ITV
Chairman: Lars Sorgard (Norvegian Competition Authority and Norwegian School
of Economics, Norway)
Speakers :
- Nicola Mazzarotto (CC - GB)
- Zoltan Biro (Frontier - GB)
- Nathalie Sonnac (Crest-LEI, Fr)

Panel III : Toys
Chairman: Alena Zemplinerova (CERGE, Prague, TR))
Speakers:
- Nadine Mouy (CC - Fr)
- Antoine Chapsal (Mapp, Fr)
- Marie-Laure Allain (Ecole Polytechnique, Fr)

16.00-16.30 Coffee Break

16.30-18.00 Parallel sessions

Panel IV : Google - Double Click
Chairman : Konrad Stahl (University of Mannheim, D)
Speakers :
- Penelope Papandropoulos (DG Comp, EU)
- Andrea Lofaro (RBB, GB)
- Janus Ordover (TBC, New York University, USA)

Panel V: Direct Energie
Chairman: Mark Willams (NERA, GB and B)
Speakers :
- Simon Genevaz (Conseil de la concurrence, Fr)
- David Spector (MAPP, Fr)
- Claude Crampes (TSE, IDEI, Fr)

Panel VI : Mondi Dunapack
Chairman : Laszlo Szakadat (TBC, Hungarian Competition Authority)
Speakers :
- Gergely Csorba (Hungarian Competition Authority, H)
- Dan Gore (RBB, GB)
- Gabor Kezdi (Central European University, H)

20.00 - Dinner

Friday, November 28th -

9.00-10.30 Parallel Sessions
Panel VII : Lemvigh-Müller / Brdr. A & O Johansen
Chairman: Svend Albæk (DG Comp, EC, EU)
Speakers :
- Søren Gaard (Danish Competition Authority)
- Peter Møllgaard (Copenhagen Business School, DK)
- Hans Keiding, (University of Copenhagen)

Panel VIII : PT/ Sonaecom.
Chairman : Natalia Fabra (University Carlos III, Madrid, Sp)
Speakers :
- G. Federico (CRAI, Barcelona and London, Sp and UK)
- F. Jimenez (NERA, Madrid, Sp)
- S. Hoernig (Univ Nova de Lisboa, Portugal)
- J. Azevedo (OECD, Paris, Fr)

Panel IX : INEOS – KERLING
Chairman : Marc Ivaldi (TSE, IDEI, Fr)
- Ian Small (CRAI, Uk)
- Miguel de la Mano (CET, DG Comp)
- Frank Verboven (UK Leuven, B)

10.30-11.00 Coffee Break

11.00-12.15 Round Table on “Economic evidence in competition policy cases” :
Chairman : Massimo Motta (University of Bologna and EUI, Italy)
- John Fingleton (OFT, UK)
- Nadia Calvino (DG Comp, EU)
- Frédéric Jenny (Cour de Cassation, Fr)

12.15 –12.45 Information on ACE

12.45 - … Lunch

End of the ACE 2008 Conference