Competition policy 2023

• Do new regulatory regimes for subsidies represent equal treatment for all or discriminatory targeting of particular jurisdictions? 

• How should the European Commission account for other jurisdictions’ policy objectives such as supply chain stability and will other jurisdictions retaliate with their own regulation of EU subsidies?

• What theories of harm could be grounds for intervention in mergers and public tenders and what economic evidence will be relevant?

• To what extent are subsidies for sustainability and supply chain stability objectives consistent with international trade rules? 

• Could subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act and the EU’s response be challenged under the World Trade Organization and/or the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation?

Speakers
Lorenzo Coppi, Executive Vice President, Compass Lexicon
Ben Smulders, Deputy Director General, DG Competition, European Commission
Stephen Pattison, Vice President, Global Public Affairs, ARM Holdings 
Cristina Volpin, Competition Policy Expert, OECD
Chair: Andrea Biondi, Professor of European Union Law, Director, Centre of European Law, Kings College London

• With ever increasing scrutiny of mergers, has the US become more interventionist? Is hostility to “private equity roll-ups” justified? 

• What expanding theories of harm effect dynamic and nascent competition and monopsony power? 

• How effective are jurisdictional thresholds in Europe after Towercast and the Article 22 EUMR policy change?

• What are the implications of changes to the UK merger control regime and is the UK becoming the global pacesetter?

Speakers
Sue Hinchliffe, Partner, Clifford Chance
Edyth Kyegombe, Managing Counsel, Antitrust, Shell
David Lawrence, Policy Director, Antitrust Division, United States Department of Justice (joining virtually)
Sorcha O’Carroll, Senior Director, Mergers, Competition and Markets Authority
Annemiek Wilpshaar, Head of Unit, Mergers: Information, Communication and Media, DG Competition, European Commission
Chair: Andy Parkinson, Senior Vice President, Compass Lexicon

This session explores the evolving approaches to AI regulation within competition policy.

Speakers
Francine Bennett, Acting Director, Ada Lovelace Institute
Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, Director, Competition Law Forum; Senior Research Fellow, Competition Law, British Institute of International and Comparative Law
Chair: Olivia O’Sullivan, Director, UK in the World Programme, Chatham House

• How does the Digital Markets Act interact with other regimes and what is the role of national regulation and ex post approaches  in competition enforcement?

• Does the European Commission’s new Article 102 enforcement policy signal a retreat from effects-based approaches?

• What are the implications of the UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill?  

• Can forced interoperability stifle innovation? 

• What is the potential for EU Digital Markets Act and/or UK Digital Markets Unit private litigation?

• What are the implications of recent opt-out collective actions against tech firms?

Speakers
Amelia Fletcher CBE, Professor of Competition Policy, Norwich Business School
Joe Perkins, Senior Vice President; Head of Research, Compass Lexecon
Chris Prevett, General Counsel, Competition and Markets Authority
Chair: Milena Robotham, Partner, Clifford Chance

Speakers
Aviv Nevo, Director, Bureau of Economics, Federal Trade Commission
Chair: Bill Kovacic, Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy; Professor of Law; Director, Competition Law Center, George Washington University