Concurrences

US Federal Trade Commission

The FTC’s initiative consists of its Competition Matters blog. It provides the public with details and practical insights on the FTC practices, polices and actions. The blog’s content is provided from competition experts across the FTC, written with details and practical insights on the import of FTC practices, policies, and actions. Topics are selected after exhaustive canvassing with staff to identify the issues that are cropping up repeatedly. The blog showcases the “how-to” of specific enforcement interactions. A transparency mechanism to promote better understanding of FTC enforcement approaches and how to comply. The blog, published roughly biweekly has nearly 30,000 email subscriptions. Separate from the click-throughs, posts have 4,000 to 12,000 views. The blog format complements official FTC statements, allowing for more detailed explanation of critical issues. Check here: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/competition-matters

Testimonials

Martijn Snoep
Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (The Hague)

Netherlands 14 contributions 43004 visits

Compliance should be in focus for competition authorities. Prevention is always better than cure. Therefore, the Antitrust Compliance Summit & Awards initiative is to be lauded.
Marie-Pascale Heusse
BNP Paribas (Paris)

France 2 contributions 3005 visits

Compliance, as well as time to market, constitutes a major strategic challenge for economic players but also for authorities and institutions. What is the rule without the knowledge of this rule, the understanding of issues and risks at stake ? This is most apt when it comes to behavioral rules. Competition law is now part of companies’ codes of conduct which imply for staffs to act in a responsible and ethical manner. Being aware of competition law rules is therefore much more than a legal requirement. It is part of the corporate culture.

Today Competition Law Compliance Programmes are widespread. However, from the perspective of Heads of competition law / Compliance officers in charge, maintaining such programmes as top priorities is not a walk in the park. To the contrary, it is a real challenge to always keep them up especially when they are themselves in competition with many compliance requirements imposed by legislations, e.g. anti bribery, money laundering.

Concurrences identified this issue and started months ago to propose dedicated events. The Awards Compliance Initiative, that I’d like to commend, will be the high point of exchanges started in February 2019 at Concurrences’ initiative but also, and it has to be stressed, in the framework of a dedicated working group set-up by the French Competition Authority in 2020. More broadly, it will gather international actors, authorities and institutions and allow them to share their views and more practically, their best recipes and tools.
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.
Martin d’Halluin
News Corp (New York)

United States 7 contributions 7112 visits

In its 2019 guidance, the U.S. Department of Justice emphasized that robust compliance programs need to be forward-thinking: "effective antitrust compliance programs not only prevent, detect, and address antitrust violations, they also further remedial efforts and help foster corporate and individual accountability". Concurrences’ idea to reward innovative compliance initiatives globally is also forward-thinking and should be applauded. I am delighted to be part of the Steering Committee and look forward to seeing a lot of creative programs.
Dirk Middelschulte
Unilever (Brussels)

Belgium 5 contributions 4499 visits

From being a fringe activity for the legal profession, competition law compliance has become a key pillar of good corporate citizenship over the last 15 years or so. So much legal expertise, business insight and creativity goes into ever-more sophisticated and bespoke compliance programs. It is about time to recognize outstanding accomplishments in this important field, and I am very pleased that Concurrences has given me a chance to support their initiative.

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Testimonials