5th IDRC Pre-ICN Forum on Competition and Development
Istanbul, Turkey, Monday 26 April 2010.
The Customer is King (and Queen):
Bringing the consumer back to competition law
PROVISIONAL PROGRAM
This Forum invites practitioners to reconsider a fundamental part of their mandate — the distributive role of competition, more specifically the impact of competition policy measures on consumers in general and perhaps poor and vulnerable consumers in particular. If competition interventions can be shown to be effective to this end, the political and popular legitimacy of competition agencies is surely reinforced in the global crisis. First, there are complementarities and tensions between competition and consumer protection policies, both in theory and in practice, which will be illustrated by reference to the recent experiences of some developing countries. Next, scholarly work on consumer economics is swiftly being taken up into consumer protection legislation, especially as it relates to modern service products, but do competition policy statutes and interventions need to be updated as well and if so, in what ways? Finally, we will discuss how, if consumer welfare is indeed served by competition interventions, competition agencies can indentify those benefits and present the evidence convincingly to the political authorities and to the general public.
9:00-9:15 Welcoming remarks: Turkish Competition Authority and IDRC
9:15-9:45 First Session: INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
David Lewis, Gordon Institute of Business Science, South Africa
Phil Evans, Senior Consultant, FIPRA and panellist, UK Competition Commission
10:00-12.30 Second Session: COMPETITION AND CONSUMER PROTECTION – THE RELATIONSHIP IN PRACTICE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Chair: Phil Evans/David Lewis
In this session speakers from competition authorities in developing countries assess their experiences of the relationship between competition and consumer law and implementation. What are the advantages and disadvantages of hybrid agencies that integrate both competition and consumer protection functions, and of the existence of two separate agencies; how can the respective disadvantages be overcome in practice? On which particular areas of interaction should the competition authority focus to yield the greatest “public relations” benefit?
Presenters:
Allan Fels, ANZSOG, Australia
Paul Phumpiu, INDECOPI and IDL, Peru
Marcia Pardo Gonzalez, FNE, Chile
11.00 -11.30 Coffee Break
Session Continues
David Miller, JFTC, Jamaica
Heinrich Goamab, NaCC, Namibia
Shadrack Nkelebe, Fair Trade Competition Commission, Tanzania
Speaker from the Competition Commission of India tbc
Pradeep Singh Mehta, CUTS International tbc
LUNCH (12.30-14.00)
14:00-15:30 Third Session: UPDATING THE CONSUMER DIMENSION OF COMPETITION POLICY Chair: Frédéric Jenny, ESSEC/Cour de Cassation, France
Consumer protection legislation has taken up many of the insights of behavioural economics. But the implications of the latest findings for competition policy are not so obvious. Are firms able to take advantage of the “weaknesses” of consumer behaviour, compared to that of the idealised “rational man” that underlies models of the market? Can existing competition provisions accommodate new advances in understanding of these matters or does the competition law need to be amended? In which markets are the investigated behaviours most relevant? In what developing country situations or types of jurisdictions is it most urgent to address this issue?
Presenters:
Maurice Stucke, Tennessee School of Law, USA
Mark Armstrong, UCL, UK
Matthew Bennett, OFT, UK
Gustavo Valbuena Quinones, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Colombia
Elizabeth Farina, University of Sao Paolo, Brazil
Tea break
16:00-17:30 Fourth Session: ARGUING FOR IMPACT Chair: Mona Yassine, Egyptian Competition Authority
What competition arguments are the most convincing to policymakers and to the public? Should Authorities all be trying to show the impact of their interventions by quantifying the gains they generate or could this backfire? What specific methodologies have been tried to evaluate consumer gains from competition law enforcement, with what results? What are the respective merits and difficulties of these different approaches to evaluation and which are the most feasible for young, under-resourced authorities?
Presenters:
Ed Humpherson, National Audit Office, UK
William Kovacic, Federal Trade Commission, USA
David Lewis, Gordon Institute of Business Science, South Africa
Manuel Sebastião, Portuguese Competition Authority
Simon Roberts, South African Competition Commission tbc
17:30 CLOSE
11 April 2010
