1. The Baker McKenzie Antitrust Situation Room Podcast Series

This podcast series was prepared by the Baker McKenzie Tokyo Competition Practice Group in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Antitrust enforcement across the world continues to be very active, with some antitrust enforcers commencing investigations that are directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses should keep abreast of these developments, in order to quickly adapt to the changing regulatory climate. Each episode covers the high-level antitrust enforcement trend of a specific geographic region, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the work processes and enforcement priorities of the competition authorities in that region. Key members from our local competition teams will also share insights to help businesses ensure that their global operations continue to comply with local competition laws during this period.

2. The Baker McKenzie Compliance Cockpit

The Compliance Cockpit is a concept that helps companies assess their global risk exposure and the maturity of their compliance program. Leveraging our global network of antitrust experts, we define potential risk scenarios (for example horizontal and vertical antitrust violations or market abuse) and collect and aggregate data and information from internal and external sources that are relevant to evaluate these risk scenarios. We then translate the collected data into a homogeneous data format and apply bespoke formulas. This multi-step, automated assessment concept identifies high-risk competition areas for a specific company. Each risk area, e.g. risks arising from market power or risk-prone conduct or circumstances, is first broken down into sub-categories and ultimately into individual risk factors. Risk factors can be internal or external. External risk factors include for example the regulatory framework, enforcement activities of local authorities, the market structure and competitor landscape. Internal risk factors include for example market power, co-operations of any kind with competitors, use of distributors or resellers, other links to competitors and previous compliance incidents. A similar process is applied to assess the effectiveness of the antitrust compliance program. Following the regulatory requirements of international antitrust agencies, we assess the status and implementation of the antitrust compliance program in each market. The results of the compliance program assessment are then matched with the risk assessment results. The visualized net risks allow companies to constantly measure and visualize the effectiveness of their compliance program. Although we utilize state of the art tools and software to collect, evaluate and visualize the data, the core of the Compliance Cockpit is our global compliance expertise to reduce your company’s liability risks.