I had a great pleasure to participate in the seminar “Living with competition law issues” organized by the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) in partnership with the International League of Competition Law (ILCL), the National Bar Council and the Warsaw Bar Council. The seminar was held on 14th March 2014 under the honorary patronage of Dr. Małgorzata Krasnodębska-Tomkiel – former President of the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. The said event created a fine opportunity to meet and exchange thoughts between the competition law practitioners from around the world. In-house lawyers (for example from: Unilever, Orange, PKN Orlen or Jeronimo Martins) also took active part in the panel discussions. The seminar had been opened by speeches from Dr. Małgorzata Krasnodębska-Tomkiel, Mr. Stephen L. Dreyfuss (President of UIA), Mr. Gusztav Bacher (President of ILCL) and Mr. Aleksander Stawicki (WKB law firm). The discussions were divided into four panels:
Panel 1 – Assessing competition law risks – how to do it in practice The panelists were discussing the connection between the commercial decisions made by undertakings and their impact on the competition law. Very often competition law is not “black and white”. It evolves along with the new methods of conducting business by the undertakings, thus the competition regulatory authorities change their approach in respect to the competition law rules. What is more in-house lawyers sometimes assess and identify the competition law risks differently than the external legal counsels. In light of the above the panelists were discussing how to identify the competition law risks in practice and how it translates into the business decisions of the undertakings.
Panel 2 – Managing competition law risks – compliance and beyond One may say that it may be more profitable to infringe the competition rules than to be compliant with the law. It is not so in practice. The undertakings are increasingly more aware that the compliance programs are “a must”. However, there is no “one size fits all” compliance scheme. The panel discussions focused on answering the questions what are the solutions to the compliance problem, what is required to achieve a successful compliance culture and what else can be done to eliminate the antitrust risks.
Panel 3 – Competition law today – what is hot and what is not Competition law is constantly changing. As the undertakings adopt new business strategies new issues and risks should be taken into account. The panelists discussed the latest trends and directions of the antitrust regulations. An impact of competition law on IP rights and potential developments in merger control regulations were discussed as examples of such development trends.
Panel 4 – Dealing with antitrust investigations During this panel, the speakers discussed the role of legal counsel in the investigation proceedings for potential infringement of antitrust regulations and what strategies can be adopted in order to secure the interests of the client. The panelists also discussed the methods of dealing with the evidence in the said proceedings. Moreover the speakers addressed the practical problems connected with leniency applications, i.e. what should be done before, during and after filing of the leniency application. As for my personal thoughts after the seminar, I think that a good competition lawyer should have not only thorough knowledge of law (especially case law) but also needs deep understanding of given undertaking’s operations in particular its structure, strategies, products and culture. Therefore, I see advising on competition law very much like as business advisory. Image courtesy of Just2shutter / FreeDigitalPhotos.net