Archive for the ‘Events’ Category
Breaking News – Brussels based LL.M. in Competition Law and Economics
I am delighted to announce the setting up of the Brussels School of Competition (“BSC”). The BSC is organised under the aegis of the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (“FEB”). Its primary purpose is to provide a high-profile, specialised course leading to an advanced Master (LL.M.) in Competition Law and Economics. This course has been especially designed so as to be fully compatible with the requirements of professional practice.
Over the past decades, the European Union (“EU”) competition rules have become a critical legal issue for companies in all sectors of the economy. With rules covering a variety of practices including cooperation and distribution agreements, abuse of dominance, unfair trade practices and State aid, firms in the EU and elsewhere face increased antitrust exposure and, in turn, a significant challenge in terms of compliance. In addition to this, the introduction of industrial economics into the various areas of EU competition policy has considerably increased the degree of analytical sophistication of antitrust proceedings.
To meet the growing demand for training in this discipline, I have – together with my FEB colleagues Charles Gheur and Philippe Lambrecht – established a full-fledged LL.M. programme which provides – unlike most Brussels-based seminars and conferences – (i) a comprehensive and structured teaching programme, with periodic assessments, and (ii) multidisciplinary courses in both competition law and economics.
You can find below a flyer presenting the LL.M. programme. As you will see, the LL.M. boasts an impressive faculty, comprising lawyers and economists, officials and private practitioners, who are all acknowledged experts in their fields.
For more information on the programme, please visit www.brusselsschoolofcompetition.eu or send us an e-mail: info@brusselsschoolofcompetition.eu
Paper and Slides presented at Vienna Competition Conference
I attach below a set of slides (very simple) and a very preliminary draft text (loads of things to complete) presented at the Vienna Competition Conference 2010 which took place yesterday in Austria. Comments welcome.
I am told that all the materials presented at the conference will shortly be posted there.
I am off for a few days. Meanwhile, Alfonso will take care of the shop.
Behavioral Economics and Abuse of Dominance – PETIT and NEYRINCK
Nice
My excellent colleague Frédéric Marty has sent me the programme of a promising conference which will take place on 4 June 2010 in Nice (France).
The conference is organized under the auspices of GREDEG – CNRS. It is devoted to negotiated procedures (settlements and commitments) and gathers a number of top notch French lawyers and economists.
In addition, with summer approaching, Nice is a very pleasant location to stay for a WE.
See link to programme below.
affiche pour les journées de droit éco 4 juin fait le 7 mai 2010 (2)
Do We, AT Lawyers, need a Shrink?
This is the question which arises from the growing influence of behavioral economics in competition law.
Ahead of a conference in Vienna which will take place next week (“Industry v. Competition“, see programme below), and where I have to speak of this issue, I would like to share a thought with my readers :
There’s an irrational me that understands that economic agents do not necessarily seek to profit maximize;
There’s a rational me that thinks that this is probably the exception more than the rule. Irrationality is not, and cannot, be a good basis for devising general rules and making public policy choices. In so far as firms’ behavior is concerned, the rationality hypothesis remains indeed a reasonable assumption because most CEOs, and more generally sales agents go to business school and learn how to make informed decisions. In so far as consumers are concerned, the undisputable success of low costs business model, and customers’ increased sensitivity to price in times of crisis are blows to the irrationality hypothesis. At best, behavioral economics shall play at the margins, and inform individual decisions on particular cases where markets depart from rationality (retail banking and telcos, where consumers do not switch despite price competition).
So no, we do not need a shrink.
The Greek Gang
This is not a post on Greece’s corrupt politicians.
There’s a bunch of promising competition scholars from Greece: Ioannis Kokkoris, Ioannis Liannos and Assimakis Komninos.
To frame their activities, they have built an organization called IMEDIPA. This organization will have its 4th annual conference in Cyprus in the next few days. The programme looks excellent and the fee is very affordable.
See link hereafter to the registration form.
PS: we have a GCLC lunch talk on the follow up of the pharmaceutical sector inquiry on Thursday.
Upcoming GCLC Events
With Bernard Van de Walle de Ghelcke as our new President and Tarik Hennen as our new executive secretary, things are really pro-active at the GCLC. We have two events in the pipe:
On 20 May, Dominik Schnichels (DG COMP) and James Killick (White & Case LLP) will talk on forthcoming developments following the Pharma sector inquiry. Registration form can be downloaded here.
On 7 June, Donncadh Woods (DG COMP) and Axel Gutermuth (Arnold & Porter) will talk on the Commission’s Review of Horizontal Cooperation Agreements. Registration form can be downloaded here.
Location as usual: Hilton Hotel, Brussels
A Message of Hope, and some Food for Thougt
The unofficial purpose of this post is to send a message of hope to all our readers who believe that each and every email shall be answered in the minute. Some organizations are there to help you turn your blackberry off. Please note in addition, that from a time management perspective, checking emails on a live, constant basis is wholly inefficient and disruptive.
Those communications-related words allow me to jump to the official topic of this post. The last weeks here have been very telco oriented, with a talk at IIC forum (I eventually could not make it) on telcos, and a successful conference on Friday.
I attach the slides of the conference hereafter
Creation and purpose of Berec J.Doherty
Electronic Communications regulatory framework.Next steps- Giuseppe Conte
Functional Separation. Evolution, Revolution or Step back- Boaz Moselle
Institutional Issues in the EU regulatory Framework – NRAs – Axel Desmedt
The New telecoms package-Ripe for reform,again- Andrea Renda
Spectrum Regulation under the New Eu Framework- Phillipa Marks
Telco
I was invited today at the International Institute of Communications (“ICC”) – Telecommunications and Media Forum in Brussels. For wholly unexpected reasons, I eventually could not make it.
I still wanted to share here the speaking notes that I had prepared. One of the topics of the forum was the demarcation line between ex ante regulation and ex post competition enforcement. In this respect, I have made a few comments on AG MAZAAK’s (see picture above) opinion in the Deutsche Telekom case, which will be decided by the Court of Justice in the coming months.
Speaking notes – IIC Forum, 29 April 2010 – N PETIT
PS: Thanks to E. Provost for her assistance in preparing this document.
Reminder: Half-Day Conference on the New Electronic Communications Conference
A reminder: The Institute for European Legal Studies (IEJE) of the University of Liege will hold in Brussels on 30 April a half day conference on the new EU Regulatory Framework for Electronic Communications. My good friend Laurent de Muyter (ULg and Jones Day) has helped me bring this conference to birth. I attach the latest programme below.
Back to the Front
Back from Moscow, an absolutely awesome place.
A number of puzzling things though:
- The density of Porsche, Lamborghinis and other sports cars is far higher than in rich western European countries;
- Prices for consumer goods are not lower than in western European countries;
- Most shops are opened overnight;
- Most dairy goods are imported from the West. In fact, besides Oil and Gas, Russia seems to be very dependent on imports from other economies. This is strange though, and I wonder why Russia keeps importing basic goods, incorporating little technology, rather than developping local production.
- Traffic in Moscow is horrendous. Their metro network, which dates back from Staline, has nothing to envy to the dirty London tube, or to the old Paris metro.
Now, besides this, a number of hot, burning news:
- Registration for the IEJE’s Conference on the Reform of the New Framework for Electronic Communications is still open. The Conference will take place on 30 April. See here for more.
- The 44th Lunch Talk of the GCLC, entitled “The Lisbon Treaty and the Future of EU Competition Policy”, will take place on 28 April at the Marriott Hotel in Brussels. Hereafter, the registration form Registration Form – 44th GCLC Lunch Talk – 28 April 2010
- Antoine Masson received the Montesquieu Prize for the book he edited last year on the Legal Aspects of Firms’ Business Strategies. Congratulations!
(Image possibly subject to copyrights: source here)
Chillin'Competition 
