WASHINGTON — Assistant Attorney General Thomas O. Barnett will participate in the sixth annual International Competition Network (ICN) Conference in Moscow, Russia, from May 30 – June 1, 2007. At the conference, senior government antitrust officials, private sector antitrust experts from around the world, and representatives from intergovernmental organizations will meet to discuss competition issues.
The ICN conference will focus on the recent work of its four substantive working groups: unilateral conduct, mergers, cartels, and competition policy implementation. ICN member agencies participate in these project-oriented working groups to address policy and enforcement issues and formulate proposals for ICN consensus. Private sector experts participate actively in the working groups. Conference discussions will focus on topics addressed by these groups including: prospects for convergence on substantive merger review issues; objectives of competition laws on unilateral conduct; definition and assessment of market power/dominance; international cooperation in cartel investigations, and case selection and prioritization; and the promotion of competition policy in developing and transition economies. Participants will also discuss the implementation of the ICN Recommended Practices for Merger Notification and Review Procedures and other ICN work product. The conference will finalize work programs for the coming year.
In October 2001, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) joined with antitrust agencies from 13 other jurisdictions around the world (Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Zambia) to create the ICN. The ICN now includes 100 member agencies from 88 jurisdictions. The ICN has two main goals: 1) to promote greater substantive and procedural convergence among antitrust authorities on sound competition principles; and 2) to provide support for new antitrust agencies, both in enforcing their laws and in building strong competition cultures in their countries.
The following portions of the conference will be open to the press:
WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2007: 6th ANNUAL ICN CONFERENCE (DAY 1)
9:00 A.M. (Moscow), 1:00 A.M. (EDT) – Welcoming Remarks by Russian and ICN Officials
10:50 A.M. (Moscow), 2:50 A.M. (EDT) – Unilateral Conduct Working Group Session Deborah Platt Majoras, FTC Chairman, will open the panel on unilateral conduct. Randolph W. Tritell, Director of the FTC’s Office of International Affairs and the working group co-chair, will moderate the discussion on the objectives of competition laws on unilateral conduct. Dr. Bernhard Heitzer, President of the Bundeskartellamt, will introduce the discussion on the assessment of dominance and state-created monopolies, which will be moderated by Felix Engelsing, head of the International Section of the Bundeskartellamt and working group co-chairs. Following the panel, delegates will further discuss these topics in small group breakout sessions.
3:00 P.M. (Moscow), 7:00 A.M. (EDT) – Competition Policy Implementation Working Group Session Presentations will address findings related to technical assistance, institutional arrangements, and the judiciary. FTC’s Russell Damtoft, Associate Director of the Office of International Affairs, will moderate the technical assistance panel. Following the panel, delegates will further discuss these topics in small group breakout sessions.
THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2006: 6th ANNUAL ICN CONFERENCE (DAY 2)
9:00 A.M. (Moscow), 1:00 A.M. (EDT) – Merger Working Group Session Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Thomas O. Barnett will make introductory remarks. A panel will review the Merger Working Group’s work on the definition of covered transactions and a workshop on substantive issues in merger review. There will then be a presentation on the work of the Notification & Procedures subgroup from the FTC’s Maria Coppola Tineo, Counsel for International Antitrust. Following the panel, delegates will further discuss these topics in small group breakout sessions.
1:30 P.M. (Moscow), 5:30 A.M. (EDT) – Cartel Working Group Panel Discussion Panel discussions will examine international cooperation in cartel investigations and address case selection and prioritization. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Scott Hammond of the Antitrust Division is a panelist. Following the panel, delegates will further discuss these topics as well as negotiated settlements in cartel investigations in small group breakout sessions.
FRIDAY, June 1, 2007: 6th ANNUAL ICN CONFERENCE (DAY 3)
9:00 A.M. (Moscow), 1:00 A.M. (EDT) – Competition and Development Panel Discussion This discussion will be moderated by Alberto Heimler, Director of the Italian Competition Authority’s Directorate for Research and Institutional Relations.
10:30 A.M. (Moscow), 2:30 A.M. (EDT) – Implementation Panel Discussion Guillaume Cerutti, Directeur General of the French Direction Generale de la Concurrence et la Consommation et e la Repression des Fraudes, will moderate a panel discussion on implementation of ICN work product by member agencies.
1:30 P.M. (Moscow), 5:30 A.M. (EDT) – Closing Ceremony
Complete information about the conference is available at
Media contacts:
U.S. Department of Justice, Gina Talamona, 202-514-2007
Federal Trade Commission, Mitchell J. Katz, 202-326-2161
Federal Antimonopoly Service, Oxana Galayda, +7-945-254-76-55
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