15th International Conference on Competition, Berlin on 13 ‑ 15 April 2011

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

The International Conference on Competition has been organised by the Bundeskartellamt every other year since the early 1980s. The conference is one of the most prominent international events dealing with competition law issues. 

The 15^th International Conference on Competition will take place in Berlin on 13 ‑ 15 April 2011. Its general theme will be:  

"A Spotlight on Cartel Prosecution"

The formal part of the conference starts in the morning of Thursday, 14 April 2011 with three keynote speeches, following a welcoming address by Harald Wolf, Mayor and Senator of Berlin. The keynote speeches will be given by Rainer Brüderle, the German Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, Joaquín Almunia, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Competition, and Dr Rüdiger Grube, CEO of Deutsche Bahn AG. 

The keynote speeches will be followed by four panel discussions.  

The first panel discussion under the title 'Intensified cartel prosecution - hitting the mark or overshooting the target?' will take a close look at intensified cartel prosecution as practised by competition authorities over the last few years, seen from the perspective of companies, authorities and academics. The discussion will include, among other issues, types and levels of sanctions.

The second panel under the title 'Cartel prosecution as a global task - conflicts, cooperation, convergence' will deal specifically with issues arising from the fact that more and more jurisdictions around the world have introduced instruments for the prosecution of cartel agreements. To what extent is this likely to create points of friction in the prosecution of individual cartels, and what is the need and scope for cooperation between competition authorities or even convergence between legal systems?

The third panel discussion under the title 'Requirements of proof in court - the economic approach' addresses an issue which is not limited to anti-cartel enforcement but is of particular significance in this area: What is the level of proof that courts demand of economic arguments presented to them, for example with regard to assessing the economic damage caused by cartel agreements?

The fourth panel will deal with the topic 'The evaluation of agency activities - a critical view from the in- and outside' and associated issues: What are the effects of intervention by competition authorities, not only on competition itself, but also on the economy as a whole, and how can competition authorities communicate the significance and effects of their actions appropriately and convincingly?   

The conference will bring together leading personalities and competition experts from all over the world, providing a forum for the exchange of knowledge and experience.

The working languages of the conference will be German and English (simultaneous interpreting services will be provided).

The event starts on Wednesday, 13 April 2011, with a welcome evening. The formal part of the conference starts on the morning of Thursday, 14 April, and ends on Friday, 15 April, at lunchtime. The conference venue will be the Hilton Hotel Berlin, which is centrally located in Berlin.