Use of Economic Evidence in Cartel Cases

8 December 2023 | 10.00-13.00 CETParis, France

THE 2023 OECD GLOBAL FORUM ON COMPETITION WILL DISCUSS THE USE OF ECONOMIC EVIDENCE IN CARTEL CASES

Across the world, cartel conduct is prohibited per se or by object, without the need to prove their anti-competitive effects or their actual implementation. Prohibitions on cartel conduct apply not only to explicit agreements but encompass a range of other concerted practices where parties have reached a so-called “meeting of the minds”. Cartel cases raise many issues regarding evidence, especially economic evidence.

In December 2023, the OECD Global Forum on Competition discussed the topic also in two parallel breakout sessions.

Key takeways include:

Agencies of all sizes and levels of experience are establishing specialised teams focused on economic evidence gathering.
Economic evidence can be useful through the entire process of a cartel enforcement case. This includes detecting the cartel, proving the infringement, and calculating the punishment.
Economic evidence is only persuasive to judges and decision makers when it is presented well and recognises that lawyers are not usually trained in economics.

FORUM 2023

Global Forum home page

From Globalisation to Regionalisation

Alternatives to leniency programmes

Ex-post assessment of merger remedies

See also the full list of OECD best practice roundtables on competition

Speakers Chair of the session: Babatunde Irukera Bio Executive Vice-Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Tina Søreide Bio Director General, Norwegian Competition Authority
Breakout session 1 : Use of Economic Evidence in Cartel Cases on how can competition agencies use economic evidence in their enforcement work Moderator: K.C. Chan Bio Member, Competition Commission, Hong Kong, China ; Adjunct Professor Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Speaker: Simon Roberts Bio Professor, Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development, University of Johannesburg	Breakout Session 2: Use of Economic Evidence in Cartel Cases on how can competition authorities effectively communicate economic evidence in court and to non-experts Moderator: Kabir Ahmed Sidhu Bio Chairman, Competition Commission of Pakistan Speakers : Cristina Camacho Head of Cabinet and Head of International Relations, Portuguese Competition Authority John Davies Bio Member, UK Competition Appeal Tribunal
Documents
Call for contributions Issues Note by the Secretariat Contributions from: Albania Armenia Georgia Kazakhstan Kenya	Korea Mexico Peru Chinese Taipei Türkiye Summary of contributions
Presentations
Simon Roberts Cristina Camacho	John Davies