The educational role of authorities and their recommendations to companies

Non-mandatory condition and little or no influence on mitigation by the authorities: Is it always true?

Are compliance programmes effective in adopting better business practices? How to measure their effectiveness?

Is a poor programme worse than nothing?

What is the TCO v. ROI ratio of antitrust compliance? How to assess the benefits of past prevention

Reaping more benefits: which innovative drivers for antitrust compliance, beyond the fear of punishment?

Draft legislation on interchange fees, reviews of Payment Services and E-Money Directives, of SEPA Governance, etc

Has antitrust awareness raised among investment bankers, after recent cases?

Financial v. antitrust compliance charters: relevance/scopes, differences/similarities, pros & cons of 'one-size-fits-all' approach

Antitrust co-op with financial authorities

Preventive measures, reporting of failure

The efficiency of whistle-blowers’ systems in the financial & banking areas

Incestuous relationships between state aid and antitrust enforcement: is it a myth?

Enforcing FRAND: what is the role of courts and agencies in antitrust claims?

Article 101: what role does Article 101 play in standardisation and implementation?

De facto standards: should antitrust rules be applied differently to de facto standards over standardised technologies?

Effective problem-solving: ex ante rules or ex post intervention?

Assessing the level of compliance of your company vis-à-vis competition rules – Methodology of competition audit

Analyzing your compliance programmes and drafting revisions based on the assessment of risks/potential risks – Need for recurrent actions?

Should antitrust preventive measures be adapted to subsidiaries, geographies and business segments?

Who is at risk in the organization? Who should be trained, and how?

Antitrust insurance: how does it work?

Most international energy providers hold multiple shareholdings in other energy companies around Europe. Over the past years some EC Authorities have been increasingly interested in the interlink between the various market players. In Germany for instance, the FCA reviewed the acquisition of a 10.5% stake in a downstream company.

Questions:

What is the impact of such extension of the merger control filing obligation on energy markets?

What is the test to be applied?

What is the impact on vertical integration?

Is the review of minority shareholdings a new indirect unbundling tool?

How about LNG or natural gas projects in form of a consortium? What is the possible impact on Art. 101 TFEU assessment?

What are the patent wars consequences on the economy, growth, employment, innovation?

Allowing NPEs or PAEs to sue competing innovative ones: is it that simple?

What’s the impact on R&D? Analysing legal fees, damages, settlement amount and indirect costs..

Will the Unitary Patent be a game changer in patent wars?

Do regulators need to intervene to cure the potential damages made?

What to expect from the German Court of Düsseldorf’s question to the ECJ regarding the enforcement of standards & essential patents?

Is the EC making efforts to limit the availability of the seeking of injunctive relief?

Fines proportional to unjust profit made through infringement. To which extent?

Per Se rule vs. Effects-based legal standards, how to maximize deterrence?

Taking the degree of legal uncertainty in account: setting up optimally-fixed fines

The superior deterrence effect of legal uncertainty: welfare-enhancing

Assessing compliance as a fine mitigation factor through scale: a good option?

Which such a maximum fine of 10% of annual turnover? Making adjustments

Effectiveness & proportionality

Displaying a thorough market study: structural or behavioural remedies: when ?

Market-share: broader view of the market

Choice of remedies. The unbundling in anticipation: selling activities and assets to third parties to grant access to a network

Market-testing the remedies

Pleading for a logistical improvement & increased consumer welfare: more services and efficiency at a lower price

Quantitative selective distribution: recent case law with wider effects?

The picky issue of online sales and geographic area parameters

The right path for selective distribution: an objective proportionate approach

Dealing with the cumulative effect of parallel networks on the market

Collapsing national exceptions? The case of pharmaceutical drugs in emporiums

Civil prejudices to competition: growing pressure after last years’ consumers’ cases

White & Green paper: what has the EC consultation spotted? Role of Parliament

A collective redress with more obvious link between consumer and competition law

Federating prejudices too small for an individual procedure: what do the undertakings’ lobby really have to fear?

Lessons from the U.S.: setting up criterion

Out-of-court paths, compensation agreements: why and how?

Is merger simulation good to anticipate & test deal scenarios? What are its goals?

Is it hyped? or in the contrary, underrated? Does it really work? Which error margins?

How to make it work more successfully? Which economic tools for which mergers?

Are the EU Commission and other antitrust authorities using such methods to evaluate the potential toxicity of M&As?

What are the tactics used by strategic planning departments in large companies?

Hard-core clauses; should there be a safe harbour for luxury goods?

Pro-comp. side) > anti-comp. effects of resale price maintenance (RPM?

Avoid retailers’ free-riding, quality, image and price reputation: luxury values?

Market shares & substantive market power: arbitrariness of 30% threshold

Territorial restrictions (TR): access to best price and higher willingness to pay vs discrimination based on location or nationality. How about parallel trade?

Why not extending de minimis rule to RPM & TR to firms with 0 to 15% / 15 to 30% share if proven beneficial effects?

How lenient is the Commission? Earliness and usefulness of the materials supplied

Exchanging data and negotiating along the process: to which extent?

From lower fines to immunity: key steps

The balance between cooperating with authorities & reputation within your sector

Is leniency as an enforcement tool really incentive for dealing with cartels?

The ECN Model Leniency Programme

When national authorities are less lenient than the European Commission

Mergers or not mergers?

Which scope of data exchanges?

Joint-ventures between competitors & non-competitors: is the difference there?

Case-by-case according to control and ownership: "two parents in", "one in one out", and "two parents out" situations

How to set-up a joint-venture in sharing just the appropriate authorized information

Managing a compliance programme: how relationships should be defined?

The case of horizontal agreements and R&D joint-ventures: pro-competitive effects?

Joint-venture demergers: new merger cases?

Act 1: are lock-ins situations (B2C, B2B, developers...) still issues? Cases of interest

Act 2: has the definition of a media changed over the past years? What does media market share mean right now?

Act 3: how do antitrust authorities analyze new business models? Which ones are safe? Which ones can be harmful?

Act 4: are new generation's SSO (single sign-on) providers such as big social networks trying to take over the Web?

CCL: What should we learn from Google, Microsoft, Apple and other cases ?

The increasing number of cases and settlements

Private enforcement as a challenge of the leniency system?

Contradictory messages on access to documents

Forum shopping for litigation following international cartels

The Commission’s long march towards legislation on private enforcement

A toolbox to U.S. antitrust law, the Sherman and Clayton Acts

Which differences between both systems?

Is the U.S. antitrust system primarily motivated by decisions related to the IT and high-tech sectors? Or is it just media bias?

Further comparing systems at the state and at the federal/supranational levels

The roles of the FTC and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department. How should you plan and handle your case?

Interactions between private actions and public antitrust enforcement

Economic advantage over customers and competitors: attracting the attention of competition authorities out of definition

Unfair competition & trade secrets audits: identifying and monitoring trade secrets inside the EU; coping with the US system

The scope of reasonable non-compete & non-disclosure clauses

Expiration of confidential information

Integrating divergent systems within EU27. Trade Secret Study (2012): what's up next?

Enforcement problems in practice: irregular performances along the systems

Legality of 'fishing expeditions' according to the EU General Court

Discovering proof of corruption while investigating alleged collusions & cartels

Exchanges of information/exchanges of money; a same final infringement?

Permeability between competition and anticorruption authorities: legal basis?

Which European-wide authority to deal with intricate cases?

Anti-bribery act and the UK response: “the toughest legislation in the world”?

Does this one have impact on liability for corruption outside the UK?

Panorama of new aspects of unfair competition

How to handle asymmetric enforcement

Toolbox

Expiration of the current TTBER on 30 April 2014: what shall be expected in the next issue of the regulation?

Reviewing the exceptions to Article 101 TFEU in terms of licensing agreements

Results of the EU public consultation

Scope of hardcore restrictions and exclusive restrictions

Specific issues for pharmaceuticals, Internet and high-tech companies

Is there a right to settle (or not)?

When should the investigated company consider offering commitments? What to offer? How to manage market test results?

Is there an exit door and what may the consequences of a withdrawal be?

A fair, open and transparent process for investigated company & interested parties?

What are the judicial remedies?

Is there a preference for behavioural or structural commitments?

Are commitments enough to restore effective competition in the market?

Under what circumstances is self-monitoring successful? When is the use of monitoring trustees preferable?

Which consequences of non-compliance?

The role of politics and industrial policy in BRICS countries’ enforcement practices

Antitrust enforcement priorities in BRICS countries

Practical implications of global antitrust enforcement

The increasing amount of antitrust authorities: adding another level of expectations as to compliance

Discrepancies in remedies

Which roles can peer review play in driving comity and standards of review?

Should companies also cope with laws of the countries where they are not present?

Economic, civil, criminal law: to which extent can you be found liable? Which appeals and other recourses?

Worldwide cases: ICN recommendations

Per which criteria should you choose law and service firms to help/represent you?

Regional v. national jurisdiction: a new paradigm?

The Commission’s revised guidelines on the conduct of dawn raids

Unclear definition on what can be acceded: oral explanations, seals, statements on a voluntary basis, documentary evidence..

Rights of defence, legal privilege: “what you 'gonna' do when they come for you” unannounced?

Which material is liable for proceedings?

Discovery of other infringements, whether or not antitrust (insider trading...): liability?

Right to privacy & privilege against self-incrimination: scope of co-op. obligation

Obstruction & interference with officials gathering electronic data: additional fines?

Dawn raids put in perspective with ECHR standards: the issue of the restrictive ex post review by the General Court

Potential adverse and pro-competitive effects of patent settlements

Criteria for abuses of patent settlements?

A condition for benefit to customers: the absence of short-run exclusivity restrictions?

The potential cost for consumers from any delay in the generics entry on the market

Which ratio between number and size of pharmaceutical industries competing, and cost lowering of the medications?

Laboratories selling protected medicines at more costly price in order to compensate the loss generated by those no longer patented.