13th GCLC ANNUAL CONFERENCE

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13th GCLC ANNUAL CONFERENCE

“Fairness” in Competition Law and Policy:
Significance and Implications

25-26 January 2018
Residence Palace
Brussels

The idea of fairness has recently re-entered the policy discourse underpinning competition law enforcement, in the EU and beyond. Of course, the term “unfair” can be found in the EU Treaty and the avoidance of consumers’ exploitation is the ultimate aim of competition principles. Still, the boundaries of fairness as a driver of competition enforcement appear unclear and, for some, dangerously flexible. At the same time, whilst the application of competition rules has over the years been focusing on restrictions to the competitive process with the effect of harming consumers, a wave of cases recently brought or decided at EU and national level appear to be inspired by wide and somewhat elusive fairness considerations, including non-discrimination, neutrality, equality of opportunities, natural justice or avoidance of abuse of law. Reference can be made to cases relating to product design, IP licensing, geo-blocking, network neutrality, privacy concerns or fiscal justice. Leaving aside due process issues, the conference will explore how fairness may guide competition enforcement, what its significance may be in explaining recent trends and actual outcomes, and what implications can be observed or expected by relying on a fairness standard in the design of substantive principles. Associating lawyers and economists, practitioners and academics, the conference will therefore seek to explore the boundaries of fairness in a world where the rationality of markets has been profoundly shaken by recent crises.
Speakers include: Margrethe Vestager, Julianne Kokott, Johannes Laitenberger, Pinar Akman, Dirk Arts, David Bailey, Luis Ortiz Blanco, Jacques Bourgeois, Lorenzo Coppi, Cani Fernandez, Eleanor Fox, Michal Gal, Anna Gerbrandy, Leigh Hancher, Helen Jenkins, Frederic Jenny, Assimakis Komninos, Christophe Lemaire, Thomas Luebbig, Massimo Merola, Nina Niejahr, Kristina Nordlander, David Spector, Paolo Stancanelli, Jules Stuyck.