The International Conference on Competition (IKK) is one of the most renowned international events on competition policy and competition law enforcement, bringing together competition experts from around the world every two years. This year more than 350 participants from over 60 countries are expected to attend. For the fifth time, the Bundeskartellamt held its Workshop for Younger Competition Authorities as a forum for international exchange.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “Berlin is the centre of the international competition community this week. In the midst of multiple crises and megatrends, such as the impact of artificial intelligence on competition, we are all facing the same challenges. This makes it all the more important to strengthen our shared convictions, learn from each other and promote competition with great determination.”

Today’s conference opening session will include speeches by Marco Buschmann, Federal Minister of Justice, Sven Giegold, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President and European Commissioner for Competition, Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, and by Tobias Meyer, CEO of DHL Group.

In the six panels that are to follow, representatives of competition authorities, politicians, academics, judges, lawyers and business leaders will discuss current issues in international competition law enforcement and competition policy.

The first panel entitled “Disrupted times – Steering through the rough sea” will examine the responses of competition law and competition policy to the challenges of the wider political situation.

The second panel discussion “AI – Blessing or curse?” will focus on how to counter anti-competitive developments related to AI models and applications and the risks involved in government intervention.
Concluding the first day of the conference, the power talk “The Brandeisian ambitions – What’s here to last?” will examine developments in applying the law in the United States and take a look at the successes and setbacks of previous legislative initiatives.

Friday will start with a panel on “Abuse of dominance – What are we aiming at?”, discussing both the challenges related to competition, particularly in the digital economy, and the objectives of abuse control.
The subsequent panel “Merger Control – Challenges and perspectives” will focus on current trends in merger control with a view to addressing the examination of cases that are not yet adequately covered by the current options available.

The event will conclude with the power talk “Fast forward – AI-supported investigations as the next level?”, which will examine the extent to which artificial intelligence and related technologies can be used to support competition law enforcement.

For more information on the conference programme and the speakers please visit www.ikk2024.de.

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