From 25 - 27 March 2015 the Bundeskartellamt will hold its 17th International Conference on Competition (IKK) in Berlin. The IKK was launched by the Bundeskartellamt in 1982 in Berlin, the former seat of the authority. Since then every two years the conference brings together representatives of competition authorities and other competition experts from all over the world. It has since become one of the most internationally renowned events on competition policy. Around 400 participants from more than 50 countries are expected to attend this year's conference.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: "The conference facilitates the exchange of experience between the competition authorities and promotes dialogue between the competition authorities and the business sector. In the age of globalisation and digitalisation this is more important than ever. Where companies are active worldwide, competition authorities also need to position themselves internationally and work together. Major themes of the conference will be the internet economy, the economic power of data, and how conventional cartel law can deal with the issues they raise."

On 26 March 2015, the first official day of the conference, speeches will be given by, amongst others, Rainer Sontowski, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, Timotheus Höttges, Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Telekom AG, and Mathias Döpfner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Axel Springer SE.

In four panel discussions heads of competition authorities, antitrust lawyers, academics, politicians, representatives of internationally active companies and other high-ranking participants will examine current issues of international competition law. In the first panel discussion, Edith Ramirez, Chairwoman of the US Federal Trade Commission, Kent Walker, Senior Vice President & General Counsel at Google Inc., and Alex Chisholm, Chief Executive of the UK Competition and Markets Authority, will debate the issue of "Big data, media and competition - new rules for the digital economy?".

The second panel discussion will examine the current trend towards more convergence in the international application of merger control.

The third panel discussion will take a close look at the role of state-owned enterprises between state and economy and the challenges competition authorities face when dealing with these enterprises.

The fourth panel will discuss the design of effective procedures and sanctions in cartel prosecution, addressing the issue of private antitrust enforcement through damages actions.

More information on the conference programme is available at the following website: http://www.ikk-2015.de/.