The 15th Annual Conference of the International Competition Network (ICN), hosted by the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS), concluded on Friday, April 29, 2016. More than 500 participants from more than 75 jurisdictions, including representatives and stakeholders such as the business community, legal and economic professionals, international organisations and academics attended this year's conference which was held from Wednesday, April 26 until Friday, April 29, 2016 in Singapore.

The ICN is the most important network of competition authorities worldwide. It comprises of 132 competition agencies from 120 jurisdictions. Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, has been the ICN Steering Group Chair since September 2013.

At the Annual Conference, the past year's work products were approved, including a guidance document on merger remedies, a catalogue of agency investigative powers and a framework for sharing non-confidential information, an update of the ICN’s market studies good practices handbook, work products on agency assessment and performance measurement, competition agency ethics programs, and advocacy to the business community. The CCS led a special project on government advocacy and disruptive innovations and produced a comparative report, based on responses to a survey from 44 ICN member agencies, which was presented and discussed at the Conference. In addition, the ICN presented the findings of a network-wide assessment to help shape future work and the network’s organisation, known as its “Second Decade Initiative.” Conference attendees were also able to intervene and listen to discussions on topics in the field of advocacy, agency effectiveness, cartels, mergers and unilateral conduct during more than 30  plenary and breakout sessions.

Andreas Mundt, in his closing speech stated that "The ICN is well respected. ICN work products set standards and have impact on competition law and its application around the world. To keep it this way we always have to work on optimizing our network. We need to fill our work products with life, include younger agencies and cooperate with NGAs and other international organizations.”

The Annual Conference once more allowed members and other stakeholders to have in-depth discussions about existing work products and future topics, such as disruptive innovation as it relates to the competition policy field. The ICN thus provides one of the most important forums for experience sharing and an informal venue for maintaining regular contacts to address practical competition concerns.

The 2017 ICN Annual Conference will be held from May 10 – 12 in Porto, Portugal, hosted by the Portuguese Competition Authority.