GCR is delighted to once again host this full-day event in London, chaired by Antonio Bavasso of Allen and Overy and Laurent Garzaniti of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The conference is designed to create a forum for antitrust professionals in the telecoms, media and technology sector to come together and hear from the leading names in the space. The day will begin with an opening address from Amelia Fletcher of the University of East Anglia and will include a keynote speech from Andreas Mundt, President of the German Federal Cartel Office. The conference will consist of four sessions, which will provide the audience with an opportunity to hear from fellow professionals as they discuss the most pressing issues in the field including: market power and how to combat oligopolies; legal and policy considerations regarding merger control; data aggregation and antitrust issues; and the tools at our disposal when it comes to meeting new challenges in the sector. It promises to be an excellent experience, with an audience of private practice and in-house lawyers, consultants, industry professionals and service providers from Europe and internationally.
E-mail Tel: +44 20 3780 4137
Allen & Overy, London
Antonio is co-head of A&O’s global antitrust practice. He is dual-qualified in the UK and Italy and practises primarily in London and Brussels. Antonio is active in a number of sectors but has established a name as one of the premier authorities on TMT antitrust cases, and has worked on the competition aspects of most of the transformational mergers in this sector. He is a leading expert on media plurality, having advised on all major plurality reviews in the UK.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Brussels
Laurent is an antitrust, competition and trade partner in Brussels and is co-head of the firm's telecommunications, media and technology sector group.
Professor of Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich
Professor of Competition Policy at the Centre of Competition Policy and Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia. Amelia is also Non-Executive Director at the Competition and Markets Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator, and a member of the Enforcement Decision Panel at Ofgem. She recently acted as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Independent Review of the Financial Reporting Council (for BEIS) and as a member of a Digital Competition Expert Panel (for HM Treasury).
She was Chief Economist at the Office of Fair Trading (2001-2013) and spent two years as the OFT’s Senior Director of Mergers. Her academic research concerns implications for competition and consumer policy of behavioural economics and online markets. She has a DPhil and MPhil in economics from Nuffield College, Oxford and was awarded an OBE in for services to competition and consumer policy in the 2014 New Years’ Honours.
President of the German Federal Cartel Office, Bonn
Andreas Mundt has been President of the German Federal Cartel Office since December 2009. He is a member of the Bureau of the OECD Competition Committee and Steering Group Chair of the International Competition Network.
After qualifying as a lawyer following studies at the Universities of Bonn and of Lausanne, he entered the Federal Ministry of Economics. He then joined the staff of the Free Democratic Party in the German Parliament.
In 2000 Andreas Mundt joined the Federal German Cartel Office as rapporteur. He was Head of the International Section of the Bundeskartellamt from 2001 to 2005 and Director of General Policy from 2005 to 2009.
9.00: Welcome coffee and registration
9.30: Chairs’ opening remarks
Antonio Bavasso, Allen & Overy, London
Laurent Garzaniti, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Brussels
9.45: Opening address
Amelia Fletcher, Professor of Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich
10.15: Market power, oligopolies, innovation
This panel will discuss recent enforcement trends in the application of the market power concept in Europe and the US in the TMT sector focusing in particular on recent and pending investigations of various digital platforms for abuse of market power (Google, Amazon, Facebook). As part of that, the session will explore the importance of innovation and efficiencies in the assessment of market power in the sector. The renaissance of the concept of collective dominance and the perspective of increased enforcement in oligopolistic markets (e.g. retail mobile and broadband internet access) at least in Europe will also be tackled.
Moderator:
Laurent Garzaniti, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Brussels
Panel:
Damien Geradin, EUCLID Law, London
Bruno Soria, NERA Economic Consulting, Madrid
11.30: Coffee break
11.45: Merger control in tech and digital sectors: are there blind spots?
This session will explore legal and policy considerations that arise in mergers the digital sectors. In recent years many have raised the question of effectiveness of merger control in the tech and digital sector and questioned whether the regimes capture the right transaction or whether reforms are needed. A number of authorities have started looking at these issues. The CMA has commissioned a review of previous decisions. Questions have also been raised about the analytical tools used to assess market power in the sector. Some are calling for the application of asymmetric burdens of proof in concentrated areas. Are these proposal necessary, advisable, implementable? We will explore these themes with our expert panel looking at the experience both in the Europe and in the US.
Moderator:
Antonio Bavasso, Allen & Overy, London
Panel:
Paolo Buccirossi, Lear, Rome
Renata Hesse, Sullivan & Cromwell, Washington, DC
Jonas Koponen, Linklaters, Brussels
Tommaso Valletti, Chief Competition Economist, European Commission, Brussels
Mike Walker, Chief Economic Adviser, Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), London
13.00: Networking lunch
14.00: Keynote Address
Andreas Mundt, President of the German Federal Cartel Office, Bonn
14.15: Data aggregation and the effectiveness of antitrust, merger control and regulatory tools
This session will explore the main ways in which data may come into play in the competition law assessment of mergers in the IT sector. In the era of the digital economy, the importance of data is ever increasing and offers new opportunities, but also challenges, to consumers, businesses, regulators and competition authorities alike. The debate will focus on whether data aggregation can confer market power; how data aggregation can raise barriers to entry in the communications sector, including OTTs; and how the national regulatory authorities can address such competition concerns. Does the evidence emerging from the above cases indicate that a change may be needed to the existing antitrust and regulatory framework? The question as to whether there is a need for additional regulation to introduce competition in the market will also be considered.
Moderator:
Francesco Liberatore, Squire Patton Boggs, London and Brussels
Panel:
Luisa Affuso, Chief Economist, Ofcom, London
Antoine Chapsal, Analysis Group, Brussels, London, Paris
Philip Marsden, Deputy Chair, Bank of England, Enforcement Decision Making Committee, London
15.30: Update and trends on mergers in the media and telecoms sector
A number of landmark decision and judgements have been over the last year both in the US and in the EU and more are in the pipeline. This fourth panel will discuss critically most recent trends emerging from those cases, including:
Panel:
Dominic Long, Allen & Overy, London
Sascha Schubert, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Brussels
Annemiek Wilpshaar, Deputy Head of Unit, European Commission, Brussels
16.45: Chairs closing remarks
Antonio Bavasso, Allen & Overy, London
Laurent Garzaniti, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Brussels
16.55: Close of conference