18th International Conference on Competition in Berlin

16.03.2017

Today and tomorrow the Bundeskartellamt is holding its 18th 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 become one of the most internationally renowned events on competition policy. More than 350 participants from over 50 countries are expected to attend this year's conference.

Andreas Mundt, President of Bundeskartellamt: "Globalisation and digitalisation pose new challenges for competition authorities around the world. This calls for an intensive dialogue not only between the authorities but also with companies and policy makers. The International Conference on Competition is an important forum for this exchange of experience and knowledge. As digitalisation brings about major changes in market processes and creates new challenges for competition authorities worldwide, this will be the focal theme of the conference."

The keynote speakers opening today's conference are Brigitte Zypries, the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition and Dr Frank Appel, the Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Post AG.

In the afternoon the panel discussions will be introduced by a speech by Joe Kaeser, Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG. In four panel discussions heads of competition authorities, antitrust lawyers, academics, politicians, representatives of internationally active companies and other high-ranking participants will discuss current issues of international competition law.

The first panel discussion will deal with the theme "Size or competition - What drives innovation and investment?"

The second panel discussion will look at the difficulties for competition authorities to intervene in the fast-moving digital economy and raises questions, for example, as to whether previous cases of intervention have been convincing and how the authorities can take better account of dynamic effects in their analyses and forecasts.

The third panel discussion will focus on whether economic theory and the tools for measuring market power are sufficiently tuned to the specific characteristics of the digital economy.

The fourth panel discussion will review the current instruments for detecting cartel infringements and explore further options for modern cartel enforcement.

More information on the conference programme is available at the following website: www.ikk2017.de.


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