St. Martin Conference 2009 – Recent trends and developments in competition law and policy

11 and 12 November 2009, headquarters of the Office for the Protection of Competition, tr. Kpt. Jarose 7, Brno, CR

For the third time in its history the Office for the Protection of Competition of the Czech Republic is going to host the autumn conference focusing on recent trends and developments in competition law and policy. As last year the conference date has been set for the St. Martin’s day and the following day, 11 and 12 November 2009 and it will take place at the headquarters of the Czech competition authority in Brno.

The conference will provide an excellent opportunity to gain update on the major developments in the field of the Czech, EC and global competition law and policy over the past twelve months. It will bring together Czech as well as foreign competition experts from the competition authorities and other governmental bodies, European Commission, business community, private sector practitioners, judiciary and academics.

The topics of this year’s discussion panels include the relationship between intellectual property rights and competition, anticompetitive aspects of information exchange agreements, experience and obstacles with the implementation of the leniency programmes, abuse of buyer power by retail chains and interventions against anticompetitive conduct by governmental and regional authorities. Please see attached the draft agenda for more information.

Official languages of the conference are Czech and English, with simultaneous translation.

Registration fee is CZK 4.000 or CZK 1.000 for students, academicians and civil servants. (If you are unable to attend, a replacement delegate is welcome at no extra cost. No refunds can be made for cancellations, except for serious health reasons.)

For more information, please, contact Ms Katerina Sevcikova, director of International Department of the Office for the Protection of Competition at katerina.sevcikova@compet.cz

We look forward to welcoming you to the St. Martin Conference in Brno!

!!! NEW !!!

Do you have a question for people from the Office or other competition experts but you are worried that the conference will not provide you with time or opportunity to ask your question?

St. Martin Conference is not supposed to be a lecture by the Office and the invited panelists but first and foremost an opportunity for discussion of various topics and issues you encounter in your everyday competition practice. That is why we welcome any questions from today till the day of the conference. We would like to ask you to record your question as a video and to send it to us either via e-mail (up to 10 MB), or via mail on a CD or upload it on Internet and send the link. The recording should include a brief introduction of the enquirer, the question itself and if you want also an addressee of the question.

During the discussion blocks of the conference we will try to answer and discuss with the panelists and the audience as many questions as possible. Your question can concern both the topics of the conference panels as well as any other areas of your interest.

26/10/2009