European Competition Day
- Competition Day launched
- Organizer of the Event: Office for the Protection of Competition
- Website: www.competitionday.cz
A two-day conference focusing on competition was launched today (13 May) at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Brno. The European Competition Day has brought together some two hundred experts from the EU Member States. The prestigious conference, traditionally held by the country holding the EU Council Presidency, was opened by outgoing president of the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) and new Interior Minister Martin Pecina.
In his speech he highlighted the importance of fair competition for entrepreneurs and consumers. “The Competition Day is one of the most significant events in the field of competition. It provides a unique platform for exchanging opinions and experiences. We have an opportunity to identify current trends in competition policy and to estimate future developments, which is of particular importance at a time of economic crisis. Indeed, the crisis represents a major challenge for all competition bodies because some countries tend to interfere with the free market, e.g. by providing state aid”, said Martin Pecina in his opening address. Pecina, who had been at the head of the Czech antitrust authority since September 2005, stated that increasing the quality of international cooperation was one of the principal priorities of his term of office, which now comes to an end. In his opening speech he also mentioned the importance of competition advocacy and addressing competition issues through cooperation with entrepreneurs and regulation bodies. In this way the ÚOHS has, for instance, been trying to solve the problem of gas reservoirs in the Czech Republic.
After opening speeches by Martin Pecina, President of the South Moravian Region Michal Hašek, President of the Czech Competition Law Association Radek Pokorný and European Commission delegate Aleš Musil, the conference featured several discussion panels.
The first discussion panel addressed private enforcement of competition law, a highly topical issue in the European Union. Unlike the USA, this procedure is used only sporadically in the EU, and hardly ever in the Czech Republic. And yet every company that has been affected by a breach of competition law can apply to the court for damages. The panel discussion, chaired by Director General of the Swedish Competition Authority Dan Sjöblom, thus discussed not only the current situation in adopting Community legislation which is needed to make the use of private enforcement of competition law more widespread, but also practical details such as the probable types of legal actions or disclosure of documents to the plaintiff.
Other panels of the opening day addressed issued concerning dominance and the mutual relationship between the leniency programme making possible the remission of punishments in exchange for the provision of evidence of cartel behaviour, the settlement procedure and criminal sanctions for creating cartels, recently introduced in the Czech legal system as well.
Tomorrow’s agenda includes the issues of cooperation between competition authorities within the European Competition Network and the panel on competition and crisis, which will be chaired by the most important conference guest, Director General of DG Competition Philip Lowe.
Office for the Protection of Competition, třída Kpt. Jaroše 7, 604 55, Brno
Tel.: +420 542 167/ 288, 243, 225; e-mail: tiskuohs@compet.cz
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:21
