2018 Global Forum on Competition

The 17th meeting of the OECD Global Forum on Competition took place in Paris, France on 29-30 November 2018. Discussions topics and key materials:

Opening session

Opening Remarks by Ludger Schuknecht, OECD Deputy Secretary General | Bio  

Introductory comments by Frédéric Jenny, Chair, OECD Competition Committee

Session 1. How can ompetition contribute to fairer societies?

This session explored the concept of fairness, whether and how it can relate to competition and what fairness can mean in practical terms to competition enforcers. More information and materials here.

Session 2. Gender and competition

Competition policy usually thinks in terms of consumers and firms, government and regulators. This discussion explored whether a gender lens might in fact help deliver a more objective competition policy by identifying additional relevant features of the market, and of the behaviour of consumers and firms. More information and materials at the discussion page.

Keynote address by Margrethe Vestager can be found here.

Session 3. Benefit and challenges of regional competition agreements

This roundtable adressed the potential benefits, obstacles and challenges of Regional Competition Agreements. Participants examined the approaches of the different geographic regions that have adopted a regional competition framework (including regional competition provisions and a regional competition authority) in order to strengthen their competition law and policy in their pursuit of increased regional integration.

All materials including contributions by delegations and presentations are available here.

DAY 2 SESSIONS

Session 4. Investigative powers in practice

Competition authorities assume a crucial and challenging mission: protecting competition in the markets. This mission requires intensive evidence and data gathering.  This session discussed practical issues and share best practices regarding the use of investigative powers through three breakout sessions.

All materials related to the breakout sessions including contributions by delegations and presentations are available here.

Breakout sessions

Wrap-up plenary session 

Session 5. Competition law and state-owned enterprises

Like private firms, State-owned enterprises (SOEs) might seek to maximise profit, even if they ultimately re-invest the surplus that they earn. This roundtable discussion looked at investigations into anticompetitive conduct mergers, and agreements by SOEs, both those owned or controlled by a competition authority’s own government, and those owned or controlled by other governmentsThe aim of this session was to open up for discussion issues concerning the role of choice and competition in public markets, and the enforcement of competition law in those markets. More materials here.

Other business and proposals for future work

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