Concurrences

The International Law of Antitrust Compliance

In their 2012 article, Ted Banks and Joe Murphy argued that as antitrust or competition law had become global, so had the recognition of the importance of antitrust compliance programs. More enforcement authorities had recognized that bona fide programs should be a positive factor in how enforcement authorities treat companies. They urged that the US and other enforcement authorities should follow this approach as a standard of international law. They explained the origin of the focus on compliance programs as a central policy step in preventing organizational crime and misconduct, and how active efforts by government has energized this effort. In the anti-corruption area, for example, promotion of compliance programs was a central goal, with effective programs being recognized as mitigating factors. They also pointed out the anomaly that in antitrust, many enforcers including the US DOJ and the EU’s DG Comp dismissed compliance programs as irrelevant in enforcement decisions, thus equating those companies that made diligent efforts and those who did nothing or even had management fully supporting cartel conduct. They also explained what was needed for an effective compliance program and how antitrust enforcers could make this happen. The decision of the US Antitrust Division in 2019 to recognize compliance programs bears out the thesis of their paper.

Testimonials

Aik Kor Sia
Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (Singapore)

Singapore 4 contributions 3171 visits

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore is honoured to be part of the Antitrust Compliance Summit & Awards Steering Committee. We hope that the awards will spur competition authorities to further raise awareness of competition law through greater recognition of their work.
Georg Götz
Justus Liebig University Giessen

Germany

I congratulate Concurrences on their timely initiative of the Antitrust Compliance Summit & Awards. To highlight the importance of antitrust compliance at this moment is very welcome as we know that firms and managers are particularly tempted to engage in anticompetitive and collusive practices in times of crises.
Alexandre Barreto De Souza
Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) (Brasilia)

Brazil

You have probably heard that it is much better to be safe than sorry. This maxim, applicable to so many situations, can also be used when we discuss corruption, since the act of anticipating situations prevents they spread through public or private companies. Corruption, besides compromising the money of entities, whether public or private, also puts their reputation at stake. On the other hand, compliance programs may establish an organizational culture that encourages ethical conduct and a commitment to comply with the organization’s internal and external standards. In this way, they promote the fight against corruption and reduce the number of lawsuits and administrative proceedings, as well as the chances of financial losses. Experience shows that an effective compliance program can bring about great results. By adopting such programs, we ensure the maintenance of competition in the market and prevent the emergence of violations and harm caused by the lack of competition. Moreover, if we keep a company from losing value, it certainly creates benefits to the entire supply chain, that is, the company itself, investors, consumers, trading partners, and even authorities, as prevention is always preferable to repression, incurring lower costs to society. In view of this, it is important to recognize initiatives that aim to foster and encourage companies to have robust compliance programs that are capable of mapping risks and minimizing the practice of illegal acts, whether these are related to competition law or other matters.
Roberto Rustichelli
Italian Competition Authority (Rome)

Italy 1 contribution 1 visit

I am very delighted to be part of the Antitrust Compliance Summit & Awards Steering Committee together with other distinguished members.

The Italian Competition Authority strongly supports this much-needed initiative of Concurrences which contributes to promote and strengthen a competition culture at global level and I hope its innovative format will attract as many participant agencies as possible in sharing their experiences in evaluating compliance programmes for the purpose of potential fine reductions for businesses.

Since the adoption of our own guidelines in 2018, antitrust programmes in Italy have become an increasingly important component of businesses’ general compliance programmes. Our practice has shown that designing and implementing antitrust programmes is not a “box-checking exercise” and there is no “one size fits all” type of programme.

I believe this initiative, by exchanging best practices for successful antitrust compliance, will surely be of interest for our agency as well as many other competition agencies around the world.
Susan Ning
King & Wood Mallesons (Beijing)

China 36 contributions 23500 visits

Antitrust compliance initiative proposed by this award summit is a creative mind rarely found in the traditional legal sector. The ideas to be innovative in antitrust compliance are proposed to better chart the evolution of the legal profession and will be presented in a way that is more useful, user-friendly and amusing for the audience of the antitrust compliance trainings.

A larger context of this initiative and the reason why I am interested in joining this event - in view of the ever-increasing deterrent effects of the penalties imposed on antitrust violations worldwide, the importance of an ex-ante mechanism of an antitrust compliance also rises accordingly to avoid any ‘ex post’ antitrust risks. Antitrust compliance has become a routine task for companies, law firms, enforcers and even academics to follow and work on in their daily life.

Authors

Testimonials