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UCL | White & Case Brussels: Autumn Competition Law Conference

07 November 2018, 9:00 am–6:30 pm

Competition Law - chess piece image

Where academia meets practice, imagination meets experience!

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UCL Laws Events

About the conference

A one-day conference organised by the UCL Centre for Law, Economics & Society with White & Case Brussels

We live in interesting times for competition law. The growing inequality and technological disruption, as well as the development of "winner takes most" competition in markets marked by network effects, raise important challenges for competition authorities around the world. Old doctrines and approaches are put into question and there is a great appetite for new thinking in competition law.

The UCL/White & Case annual Brussels event aims to offer a new forum for real 'outside the box' thinking about competition law and policy in Europe. The conference is structured in such as way as to promote dialectics and the opposition between different approaches (mainstream and heterodox) in competition law, the "polémiques" section of our debate offering the opportunity to delve into the essence of disagreements. We believe that such dialectic approach is needed in order to imagine and describe this "next generation competition law" that is emerging.

Themes of the conference are:

  • Article 102: Extending the scope of the concept of abuse to pursue a more “populist” agenda? Focus on exclusionary abuses and excessive pricing
  • Merger enforcement: Implications for the data-driven economy/innovation theories of harm
  • The role of the State, competition law & regulation in the era of State capitalism
  • Competition law in 2028: A free discussion

The speakers include:

  • Aleksandra Boutin, Positive Competition
  • Cristina Caffarra, CRA
  • Miguel de la Mano, Compass Lexecon
  • Benoît Durand, RBB
  • Sir Nicholas Forwood, White & Case
  • Damien Gerard, European Commission
  • Eric Gippini-Fournier, European Commission, Legal Service
  • Pablo Ibáñez Colomo, London School of Economics
  • Bojana Ignatovic, RBB
  • Frederic Jenny, ESSEC & OECD Competition Committee
  • Ioannis Lianos, UCL Faculty of Laws
  • Sir Philip Lowe, Oxera
  • Bruce Lyons, UEA
  • Assimakis Komninos, White & Case
  • Jacquelyn MacLennan, White & Case
  • Deni Mantzari, UCL Faculty of Laws
  • Mark Powell, White & Case
  • Pierre Régibeau, CRA
  • Anne-Lise Sibony, Université catholique de Louvain
  • Jacques Steenbergen, Belgian Competition Authority
  • Kai Struckmann, White & Case
  • Tommaso Valletti, Chief Economist, DG Competition

View the Agenda and Slides
09:00 Registration
09.30 Welcome address
Ioannis Lianos, UCL | Mark Powell, White & Case

Article 102: Extending the scope of the concept of abuse to pursue a more “populist” agenda? Focus on exclusionary abuses and excessive pricing
Chair: Sir Nicholas Forwood, White & Case

09.45Competitive advantage and equality of opportunities: the creeping domination of two extraneous concepts in Article 102 cases
Assimakis Komninos, White & Case
10.05Exclusionary practices post-Intel and new theories of harm
Miguel de la Mano, Compass Lexecon
10.25Excessive pricing in pharmaceutical markets – The UK episodes
Bojana Ignatovic, RBB
10.45“Polémiques”
Ioannis Lianos, UCL Faculty of Laws | Eric Gippini-Fournier, European Commission, Legal Service
11.05Q&A session
11.20Coffee break

Merger enforcement: Implications for the data-driven economy/innovation theories of harm
Chair: Sir Nicholas Forwood, White & Case

11:40The Commission’s merger enforcement policy in the wake of the challenges of the modern economy
Tommaso Valletti, Chief Economist, DG Competition
12:00Big data and merger control
Aleksandra Boutin, Positive Competition
12:20Innovation theories of harm
Pierre Régibeau, CRA
12:40“Polémiques”
Cristina Caffarra, CRA | Pablo Ibáñez Colomo, London School of Economics
13:00Q&A session
13:15 - 14:30LUNCH

The role of the State, competition law & regulation in the era of State capitalism
Chair: Jacquelyn MacLennan, White & Case

14:30The Role of the State: Policy maker or business actor? The application of the Market Economy Operator Principle (MEOT)
Kai Struckmann, White & Case
14:50Brexit and State aid
Bruce Lyons, UEA
15:10Protectionism and competition law: A global perspective
Frederic Jenny, ESSEC & OECD Competition Committee
15:30“Polémiques”
Damien Gerard, European Commission | Deni Mantzari, UCL Faculty of Laws
15:50Q&A session
16:00Coffee Break

Competition law in 2028: A free discussion
Chair: Sir Philip Lowe, Oxera

16:20Competition law in a complex economy
Ioannis Lianos, UCL Faculty of Laws
16:40“Polémiques” roundtable
8’ each & open discussion
Cristina Caffarra, CRA
Benoît Durand, RBB
Anne-Lise Sibony, Université catholique de Louvain ()
Jacques Steenbergen, Belgian Competition Authority
17:50Q&A session
18:20Conference ends