Professor Ioannis Lianos, Chair of Global Competition Law and Public Policy at UCL Laws, delivered the keynote address at the 9th United Nations Conference on Competition and Consumer Protection, held from 7–11 July 2025 at the UN Palais des Nations in Geneva.
The high-level conference convened over 580 participants, including 17 ministers from 98 countries and more than 100 senior representatives of competition and consumer protection authorities. Together, they explored how global competition and consumer policy should respond to a rapidly evolving global economy.
In his keynote, titled ‘Towards an Agile Competition Law Paradigm’, Professor Lianos addressed the growing challenge of international legal divergence. He examined how differing interpretations of the “consumer welfare” standard—still central in some jurisdictions but modified or contested in others—risk undermining global convergence in competition law.
Using examples from labour markets, sustainability policy, and innovation, Professor Lianos highlighted emerging tensions and proposed an alternative model of “agile competition law”. Rather than aiming for convergence through uniform rules, this approach focuses on principled flexibility, regulatory learning, and interoperability across systems to accommodate technological and socio-economic transformation.
He also provided practical suggestions for operationalising the model within existing governance structures, calling for ongoing knowledge exchange between jurisdictions and tools tailored to diverse market contexts.
In addition to his keynote, Professor Lianos spoke in a panel session on ‘Recent Developments in Digital Markets’, where he presented his latest research on digital health regulation and competition law.
This year’s conference also marked the 45th anniversary of the UN Set on Competition—the only multilaterally agreed framework for global competition policy. Professor Lianos contributed to the UNCTAD commemorative volume on ‘The United Nations Set of Principles and Rules on Competition: Implementation after 40 years’ which reflects on UNCTAD’s role and the UN Set on Competition’s global impact over 44 years, while highlighting future challenges. His reflections build on his earlier scholarship on the UN’s role in shaping global antitrust norms, including his widely cited 2006 work on ‘The Contribution of the United Nations to the Emergence of Global Antitrust Law’.
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