Tuesday, 12 November 2019, W Hotel, 515 15th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20004, USA.

8.30: Welcome coffee and registration

9.00: Chairs’ welcome

Edith Ramirez, Hogan Lovells, Washington, DC and Los Angeles
Kristina Nordlander, Sidley Austin, Brussels and London 

9.15: Keynote address

10.00: Where are we today with enforcement against big tech?

Public outcry over the size, power and practices of the world’s largest tech companies is beginning to steer antitrust policy and enforcement in the US, Europe and elsewhere, where enforcers are questioning whether the antitrust and competition laws should be deployed to rein in and regulate that power. Is the public outcry based on legitimate competition concerns?  Will action by competition authorities match their rhetoric? In what areas are we likely to see greater enforcement activity?  

11.10: Coffee break

11.40: Killer acquisitions and related concepts

Critics of recent merger policy point to perceived failings of enforcers to catch and prevent harmful deals, particularly in the tech space. Should merger control laws and thresholds be altered to better catch so-called “killer acquisitions” of nascent rivals? And should agencies undertake lookbacks that could lead to enforcement against past deals that now appear to be harmful?

12.50: Networking lunch   

13.50: When conversation becomes collusion

The point at which the exchange of information becomes anticompetitive conduct - or worst of all, a cartel - can be hard to pin down, especially in the course of a business arrangement such as a vertical relationship, joint venture or pending merger. For example, a few defendants prosecuted in financial benchmark cases around the world have won by claiming that they merely exchanged information to enable a transaction. On the other hand, the collection of data for compensation benchmarks is being increasingly scrutinised as labour draws more antitrust attention. This panel will focus on how the spectrum of information exchange can bleed into a cartel; where competition authorities have drawn the lines in enforcement and guidelines; and what corporate compliance officers and trade associations should know. 

15.00: Coffee break

15.25: The potential impact of elections on antitrust

Antitrust on the stump: The 2020 US presidential elections are shaping up to be the first in decades in which monopoly power and antitrust enforcement will prominently feature in the platforms of multiple candidates. Are the words and actions of Democratic candidates Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker and others simply ovations to a frustrated electorate? Or is there deeper substance behind their progressive policy proposals? We examine what their proposals would mean for agriculture, health care and big tech should they make it to the White House. How did antitrust concerns play out in Europe in elections for the European Parliament and for top European Commission posts? Have antitrust concerns shaped the new European Commission agenda?

16.35: Chairs’ closing remarks

Edith Ramirez, Hogan Lovells, Washington, DC and Los Angeles
Kristina Nordlander, Sidley Austin, Brussels and London