Conference announcement: St.Gallen International Competition Law Forum

22nd St.Gallen International Competition Law Forum ICF: 23 and 24 April 2015 

The St.Gallen ICF has a history of attracting reputable speakers and interested participants from European competition authorities, the advocacy, academia, public offices as well as major international companies. They not only hail from Switzerland and Europe, but some travel to St.Gallen from North America and Asia to share their experience and to discuss the current topics of the field.

Cornerstones of each St.Gallen ICF iteration are the ‘Keynote by the Advocate General’ and the ‘Presidents’ breakfast’. The conference is very proud to have some of the most distinguished speakers in the field, including Vincent Martenet(President, Swiss Competition Authority), Agnete Gersing (Director General, Danish Competition and Consumer Authority), Bruno Lasserre(President, French Competition Authority) and Giovanni Pitruzzella (Chairman, Italian Competition Authority).

Another highlight of the conference will be an interview of Carl Baudenbacher(President, EFTA Court; Director CC-EIL, University of St.Gallen HSG) on the EFTA Court´s contributions to European competition law. This very interactive panel will be lead by Lewis Crofts (Chief Correspondent Europe, MLex) and David Lawsky (Consultant, Fipra International).

Date: 23rd and 24th of April 2015
Location: St.Gallen, Switzerland
Programme: http://www.sg-icf.ch/schedule
Flyer: http://www.sg-icf.ch/flyer
Contact: contact@sg-icf.ch.

St Gallen International Competition Law Forum IFC

St.Gallen International Competition Law Forum ICF – May 15th and 16th 2014
The 21st St.Gallen International Competition Law Forum ICF will be held on May 15th and 16th 2014. Once more, it will feature a thrilling selection of hot topics in current competition law issues and some of the most distinguished speakers in the field, including Joaquín Almunia (Vice-President of the EU Commission and Commissioner for Competition), Nicholas J. Forwood (Judge, General Court EU) and Ingeborg Simonsson (Judge, Stockholm City Court). Taking place in one of Switzerland’s most beautiful cities, the St.Gallen ICF gives you the opportunity to meet, discuss and mingle with fellow competition lawyers and leading competition law experts from all over the world. Further information including a detailed programme are available on the conference website:http://www.sg-icf.ch/.

Topics: Current issues and developments in competition law
Programme: http://www.sg-icf.ch/programme/
Date: May 15th and 16th 2014
Location: St.Gallen, Switzerland
Registration: Registration is now open on our website (http://www.sg-icf.ch/conference-registration/)

Postgraduate Workshop on Competition Law Enforcement – Dublin

International Postgraduate Workshop on Competition Law Enforcement

This annual workshop, run by the PhD Community at the University College Dublin School of Law, is calling for papers by 7 December 2011 .

The Workshop will be held in March 2012.

For more details see: http://www.ucd.ie/law/phdworkshop/

Conference announcement: What comes next in Electronic Communications?

Conference announcement

What comes Next in Electronic Communications? A Review of the New EU Framework
Brussels, 30 April 2010, Fondation Universitaire

View full program

Registration closes on 18 April 2010.

Google Book Settlement Conference, Brussels Feb 12

The Institute for European Legal Studies (IEJE, University of Liège, Belgium) is running a half-day conference on the Google Book Settlement in Brussels, on February 12th 2010: ‘The Challenge of Building a Digital Library that Benefits All‘.

The programme reflects the breadth of opinions on the complex issue this matter raises regarding IP and competition law and speakers include European Commission officials, high level scholars, in-house counsels and practitioners.  I wish I could go … if you’re in a more fortunate position than me and can get to Brussels on Feb 12th, you can view a copy of the programme and registration details here.   Welcoming remarks by co-director of the IEJE and ‘chillingcompetition’ blogger, Professor Nicolas Petit.

ICN 8th Annual Conference

The 8th Annual Conference of the International Competition Network begins in Zurich today.  An Agenda and core documents are available online.  Tim Grimwade, the Executive General Manager, Mergers Group, of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, will moderate a session on Merger Notification and Procedures this afternoon.  Tomorrow, ACCC Chairman, Greame Samuel, will be a panelist on the cartel panel ‘Transitioning from an Administrative to a Criminal Regime’ and then will moderate another breakout session on Transitioning to Criminal Sanctions.  Mark Pearson, Executive General Manager of the ACCC, will moderate a session on ‘Leniency: Maximising Incentives for Reporting and Cooperation’.

Other topics of interest include competition advocacy (inc market studies), unilateral conduct, competition policy implementation and sessions headed ‘Interactive ICN – Maximising Network Effects’.  A special project report has also been prepared for the conference by the Swiss and Israeli Competition authorities assessing ‘Competition Law in Small Economies‘.

Competition Law Conference

The 20th Annual Competition Law Conference, organised by Chris Hodgekiss of the NSW Bar, was held in Sydney last Saturday 23 May, covering a range of current issues in competition law and policy.

The keynote speech of the Conference, ‘In Hope of Convergence – A Regional Perspective on Competition Law‘, delivered by High Court Chief Justice RS French has now been published online on the High Court’s website.  Chief Justice French paid particular attention to the new Indian competition laws, the majority of which came into operation on 20 May 2009.

Other sesssions at the Conference covered the proposed conduct of cartel litigation following the introduction of criminal penalties (including ‘the ACCC enforcement perspective on serious cartels – some key issues and practical considerations‘ by Marcus Bezzi (Executive General Manager, Enforcement & Compliance Division, ACCC) and ‘The Role of the CDPP in the Prosecution of the Proposed Cartel Offence’ Graeme Davidson (Deputy Director, CDPP). Brent Fisse (Lawyer & Senior Fellow, Melbourne Law School) followed with the paper ‘Avoidance and Denial of Liability‘, assessing potential escape routes from the new cartel laws), the complexities of representative and class action proceedings in competition law (with Dr Peter Cashman and Ben Slade) and Mergers and the availability (or otherwise) of a ‘failing firm’ defence (courtesy of Dave Poddar (Partner, Mallesons) and Tim Grimwade (ACCC))