Competition Summit 2013 December 5-6 Brussels
/Joaquín Almunia, Vice President and Commissioner for Competition (European Commission) at the Competition Summit 2011: “Looking at your programme, I can see that no serious discussion of competition control these days can ignore the uncertain financial and economic situation that is holding the euro area, Europe and the world in its grip.”
One year later, The European Union has taken important decisions in order to secure its most harmed member states through bailouts and adapted measures. But the growth prospects are still weak and the economic outlook remains uncertain. A lot of European companies continue to close their factories, and to post more job cuts and poor revenue forecasts in the media every week.
In such a tough climate in which to do business, some would be tempted to call for an ease in competition rules. But that would somewhat be ignoring the true essence of these. On the other hand, while the role of antitrust authorities is to guarantee safer practices and fair balances in the interest of a better economy, their neutrality gives them enough free will in deciding to which extent their decisions should be applied.
That's why many questions will fuel the debates at the third Competition Summit, to be held this year on December 5-6, 2013 at the Radisson Blu Royal hotel in Brussels.
Through plenary sessions and workshops, 100+ high profile speakers and 400 delegates will debate key strategies to take stock and anticipate evolutions related to such various topics as the costs and effectiveness of compliance programmes, remedies packages in merger control, antitrust in the BRICS, the proportionality of fines, selective distribution, fair use and abuse of patents, the future guidelines for technology transfer BER, cartels and leniency, private actions, dawn raids, as well as vertical challenges for market players in the fields of energy, banking and finance, media & telecoms, pharmaceuticals, and more.
Organized by Brussels & Paris-based think tank Premier Cercle™ since 2009, this important biennial event has brought together major professionals of Antitrust & Mergers from dozens of countries, with a rate of around 70% corporates besides European commissioners, State ministers, legislators, judges, CEOs of large companies, Competition attorneys and lawyers, to prepare the future of growth and jobs in fuelling the debates on crucial competition reforms.
Over the years, the Competition Summit has become the essential pan-European business platform for fruitful networking between antitrust professionals, and for sharing field knowledge and best practices in and out of the workshops.
This year the initiative will feature a position paper to be written by expert practitioners among our partners, which will be circulated to all the delegates at the Summit, for a still more qualitative content. More networking sessions (walking dinner, reception gala, closing drink…) will also be introduced, combined to upstream and advanced online devices for unequalled efficient meetings.
Plenaries
- Regulation Policy and Deterrence by Competition Authorities in Times of Crisis: True Dilemmas?
- Antitrust Risks and Consumer Damages: Compliance Programmes in the Boardroom
- Privacy, Content Ethics and Big Data: New Money, New Horizons for Antitrust?
- Does the Current Climate Prompts for More Major Mergers or Strategic Alliances & Softer Eligibility Criteria?
- Vertical Restraints and the Digital Economy
Workshops
| THURSDAY DECEMBER 5 | DAY 1 | |
| MORNING WORKSHOPS | STREAMS 1-3 | |
| 1. ANTITRUST COMPLIANCE | 2. INDUSTRY CHALLENGES | 3. PATENTS & STANDARDS |
| The costs of insufficiency or non-compliance | Antitrust in the financial sector: Beyond the awakening | FRAND: fair use & abuse of essential patents |
| Managing risks: assessment and mitigation | Energy 3rd package: a review of its implementation | Patent wars: an assessment of their impacts |
| THURSDAY DECEMBER 5 | DAY 1 | |
| AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS | STREAMS 4-6 | |
| 4. ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT I | 5. MERGER CONTROL | 6. RETAIL, INTERNET & ANTITRUST |
| Proportionate fines: scenarios and formulas | Remedies package: getting it right for approval | Selective distribution & vertical agreements |
| Class actions: state-of-the-art of EU projects | Merger simulation: legitimacy? Which models? | Vertical restraints Block Exemption Regulation: Focus on luxury goods |
| Leniency: what is total cooperation? How-to? | Joint-ventures: An exception? | Trust and antitrust on the Web & in the Cloud |
| Evening: Gala Reception at Town Hall's Wedding Room (subject to confirmation) | ||
| FRIDAY DECEMBER 6 | DAY 2 | |
| MORNING WORKSHOPS | STREAMS 7-9 | |
| 7. ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT II | 8. COUNTRY FOCUS | 9. IP & COMPETITION |
| Private actions for anticompetitive acts | US antitrust: a practical guide for EU companies | Trade secrets: when do they halt competition? |
| Cartels: How investigations may lead to extra issues | New & asymmetric trade barriers: Fighting on equal terms | Tech. Transfer BER & New Guidelines |
| FRIDAY DECEMBER 6 | DAY 2 | |
| AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS | STREAMS 10-12 | |
| 10. ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT III | 11. NEW CHALLENGES | 12. AHEAD OF ANTITRUST |
| Binding Commitments in EU: the Future of Enforcement? | Benchmarking antitrust practices in BRICS | Extraterritoriality of decisions: Handling complex cases |
| Dawn raids: Dealing with information discovery | Generics: Are they increasing or decreasing drugs' prices? | Hiring collusions: do they violate antitrust laws? |
| Afternoon: Networking event | ||
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