Hot off the press-forthcoming Competition Law workshop in Edinburgh, Programme published!

The Competition Law Scholars Forum (CLaSF) is delighted to announce that the programme for the XXth workshop is now public.  The theme of the workshop will be "Competition Law and the Economic Crisis".

We are very honoured to have Prof Luis Morais, currently at the helm of the Portuguese Competition Authority, as the keynote speaker for the day.  The line up of contributors is truly impressive and the papers will cover a range of hot topics and issues-this day is sure to inform discussion on a raft of important and topical questions.

Anyone interested in attending (you must be a member of CLaSF- see www.clasf.org re membership) should contact Dr Arianna Andreangeli in the first instance-places for the audience are limited.

The programme will be shortly live at www.clasf.org, but for a taster… 

Draft Programme

 

9-9:30am: registration and coffee

 

9:30-9:45am: Welcome and Introduction—Prof. Barry Rodger (University of Strathclyde, Vice-Chair, CLaSF) and Dr Arianna Andreangeli (University of Edinburgh)

 

9:45am-10:30am: Keynote speaker—Prof. Luis Morais, Universidade de Lisboa and Portuguese Competition Authority. 

 

10:30am-10:50am: Questions and discussion

 

10:50am-11:10am: coffee break

 

11:10am-11:50am—Panel I: Competition law and the economic crisis—general themes.

Chair: Prof. Alan Riley, City Law School, Chair, CLaSF

 

Mr Pat Massey and Mr Moore McDowell (COMPECON, Dublin, Ireland): “Competition Law: an unaffordable luxury in times of crisis?”

 

Ms Beata Slominska (College of Europe): Should crisis justify the functioning of crisis cartels?  Lessons from the history in the context of the current financial crisis”

 

11:50am-12:30pm—Panel II: the goals of competition law in the current economic turmoil

Chair: Dr Arianna Andreangeli, University of Edinburgh

 

Ms Gul Sirin Gok (University of Strathclyde): “The Interplay between the ‘Welfare of Consumers’ and ‘Economic Growth’ as Objectives of Competition Law: Overrated?”

Dr Anne-Christine Witt (University of Leicester): “Can the more economic approach survive the economic crisis?”

 

12:30pm-1pm: Q&A for all speakers

 

1pm-2pm: Lunch break

 

2pm-3:20pm—Panel III: State aid and the crisis of the banking and automotive industries.

Chair: Mr James Killick, White & Case, Brussels

Mr Gianni Lo Schiavo (College of Europe): Towards a reshaping of the rules for State aids in the aftermath of the financial crisis?”

Dr Michele Giannino (Desogus, Cagliari, Italy):Too big to fail banks: what can merger control do? An European perspective”

Dr Jonathan Galloway and Prof Joanna Gray (University of Newcastle): “Reforming the UK banking sector: Weighting Financial Stability and Competitiveness”

Mr Conor Talbot (European University Institute): “Competition Law and Policy in times of Economic Crisis: A Case study of the application of EU competition rules to consolidation in the automobile manufacturing sector”

 

3:20pm-3:45pm: Q&A

 

3:45pm-4pm: coffee break.

 

4pm-4:40pm—Panel IV: the crisis and the EU economic and social model

Chair: Mr Angus MacCulloch, University of Lancaster

 

Prof Erica Szyzsczak (University of Leicester): “Putting the ‘market’ into the ‘social’”

Prof Johan Van Den Gronden (Radboud University, Nijmegen): The Transformation of EU Competition and Internal market law by the Stability and Growth Pact: competence creep into the national welfare states?”

 

4:40pm-5:10pm: Q&A

 

5:10pm-5:20pm: closing remarks

 

 

News come hard and fast-new OFT CEO announced today!

The Business Secretary, Vince Cable MP, announced today that Clive Maxwell is to replace John Fingleton as Chief Executive Officer of the Office of Fair Trading.

Clive Maxwell is currently an Executive Director and Member of the Board of the Office and has in the past held a number of posts in the Treasury from 2000 to 2009.

See:

http://news.bis.gov.uk/Press-Releases/New-OFT-chief-executive-announced-67b40.aspx

for more information about the handover.

His appointment comes at a critical time for the OFT, as he will be deeply involved in the transition to the new Competition and Markets Authority.  The CMA will replace the current framework for the enforcement of the competition rules in the UK, which is characterised by a division of responsibilities between the OFT and the Competition Commission; this is especially apparent in respect to the control of mergers and to market inquiries, and has been widely approved of for its thoroughness and for its efficiency.

The move to a unified agency is therefore not entirely uncontroversial: it may be wondered whether, rather than looking at the merits of such a transition the Government may have been influenced by the perceived need to implement budgetary cuts.  Surely, it is in many ways regrettable that, if that was indeed the case, the OFT and the CC could be innocent victims of the "bonfire" of many governmental and quasi-governmental agencies.