Speakers

(alphabetic order)

Jean-Yves Art

Microsoft, Associate General Counsel

Jean-Yves Art is Associate General Counsel at Microsoft.  He leads a team of lawyers who counsel business executives on all antitrust and regulatory aspects of Microsoft’s activities in the EMEA region.  In close coordination with the Company’s headquarters in Redmond, Jean-Yves also manages all regulatory proceedings, including antitrust proceeding involving the Company in the region. Before joining Microsoft in 2002, Jean-Yves had practiced European competition law for ten years with Coudert Brothers, a firm that he joined after having worked for three years as a legal secretary at the Court of Justice of the European Communities. Jean-Yves is also invited professor at the College of Europe, Bruges, where he teaches EU merger control, and at the University of Liège where he co-chairs a seminar on advanced topics in EU antitrust law.  He has written extensively and is a regular speaker at conferences on EU competition law.

Barbora Bednářová

Office for the Protection of Competition, Adviser

Barbora Bednářová is Adviser to the First Vice-Chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition of the Czech Republic. Her experience covers both European and Czech competition law and extends to unilateral conduct as well as vertical and horizontal cooperations, state aid and merger control proceedings in the EU and around the world. Before joining the Office in March 2009, Barbora was working as an antitrust lawyer for the Brussels office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and before that in the ECN unit of the European Commission’s Competition Directorate-General in Brussels. Barbora has also practiced law in Prague and Paris and holds postgraduate degree from University of Amsterdam.

Josef Bejček

Professor at Faculty of Law, Masaryk University in Brno

Former dean of Masaryk University Faculty of law in Brno (1995-2001) is internationally respected specialist on competition and business law. He is a head of business law department at Masaryk University Faculty of law in Brno. He is a member of second-instance administrative commission of the Office for the Protection of Competition and has functioned in many commissions working on new legal enactment proposals. He also works as an arbitrator at Arbitration court attached to the Economic Chamber of the Czech Republic and Agricultural Chamber of the Czech Republic. He is an author and co-author of hundreds of articles and studies and many monographs and textbooks on competition and business law.

Ninette Dodoo

Clofford Chance, counsel

Ninette Dodoo is a Counsel in Clifford Chance's Global Antitrust and Foreign Investment Control Group and currently heads the firm’s Antitrust and Foreign Investment practice in China. She has many years experience in advising major corporations on antitrust, foreign investment and regulatory matters, at both the EU and national levels across a range of industries. She has advised on several landmark cases including GE/Honeywell, and Microsoft successfully acting as co-counsel for clients supporting the European Commission against Microsoft. Recently, she has represented corporations in Chinese antitrust and foreign investment matters. Recent work includes advising Aluminium Corporation of China on the merger control and foreign investment aspects of its aborted acquisition of interests in Rio Tinto, InBev SA on the merger control aspects of its acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, and Pfizer on the merger control aspects of its acquisition of Wyeth. Member of Clifford Chance’s Healthcare, Life Sciences & Chemicals Group.

Tomáš Fiala

Lawyer at Vejmelka & Wünsch

He completed Master's Degree in law at the Law Faculty of Masaryk University in Brno in 1993, his Ph.D. obtained at the same university in 2001. From 1993 to 2001 he worked at the Office for Protection of Competition, where from 1999 to 2001 he worked as Director of the Department for European Integration and International. Within years 2001 - 2002 he worked as a clerk in the Prague branch of law company Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Since taking over this office its then partners in late 2002 carried on practice in a public company lawyers Vejmelka & Wünsch. Since 2005, he is a lawyer acting in the public company lawyers Vejmelka & Wünsch. He is a member of the Czech Bar Association and the Czech Association for Competition Law. He participated as a speaker series of seminars and conferences aimed at the protection of competition and has also published a series of articles on this subject. He speaks Czech and English. Currently he has been specializing in the fields of competition law, rules on public procurement, protection of personal data and medical law.

Vladimíra Glatzová

Lawyer at Glatzová & Co.

Specialisation: Mergers & Acquisitions, Competition & Antitrust  Prominent; Education: Law Faculty of Charles University in Prague (graduated 1988), University of London - Queen Mary and Westfield College, post-graduate studies LLM (1992); Secondment: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, London and Paris; Hengeler Mueller, Frankfurt am Main (1992 – 1994); Membership: Czech Bar Association, Slovak Bar Association,  International Bar Association; Awards: Named third most influential women in Czech business in 2009 (Hospodářské noviny, daily), Lawyer of the Year 2005 in Banking.

Emil Horčička

Ministry of the Interior, Czech Republic

Emil Horčička was at the Ministry of Interior from 1998 to April 2008, where he devoted to the European Union, legislation procedures and local and state authorities Since July 2004 he directed the Department of Community law the Ministry of Interior. From May 2008 to May 2009 was Chief Executive Director of the National Authority for Coordination and European Affairs at the Ministry for Regional Development. Within its scope of activities coordinated operational programs that implement measures which are financed from EU funds, including management of the Operational Program Technical Assistance. He was responsible for preparing and implementing the activities of the Ministry for Regional Development in CR Presidency to the EU. In June 2009 he came back to the Ministry of Interior. Since July 2009 he has been the head of the department of legal aid projects of the department of legislation, which pays particular attention to the preparation and implementation of projects financed from EU funds, which should lead to the technological modernization of the legislative process. Emil Horčička studied from 1993-1998 in the Law Faculty of Masaryk University in Brno.

Krisztian Katona

Counsel for International Antitrust, U.S. Federal Trade Commission

Krisztián Katona is Counsel for International Antitrust at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission where he is responsible for multilateral antitrust affairs.  He has represented the United States in several multilateral fora related to competition policy and law enforcement, including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Competition Committee and the International Competition Network (ICN).  Prior to joining the FTC in 2006, Mr. Katona worked on antitrust/competition matters in the Washington, DC office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, focusing on international merger cases and antitrust litigation.  Mr. Katona received his first law degree from ELTE University School of Law, Budapest.  He also holds a University Degree in French and European Law from the Université Panthéon-Assas, Paris II, as well as a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in European Competition Law from the Universität Konstanz, Germany.  He obtained an LL.M. degree concentrating on U.S. antitrust law and trade regulation from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served on the managing board of the Virginia Journal of International Law and graduated as president of his class.  Mr. Katona is admitted to the Bar of the State of New York and is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales (solicitor). 

Miroslav Koberna

Director of the Federation of the Food and Drink Industries

Miroslav Koberna graduated in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Prague (Czech Republic) in 1978. He had his first job as a designer. Later he worked at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Mechanics in Prague as a specialist for pressure welding and since 1986 at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Technology Pilsen as Head of Department of Diagnostics. He gained his academic degree at the Technical University of Pilsen, Faculty of Mechanics in 1989. In the year 1993 he moved to the business as a IT company director. Since 1995 he worked in Kovopetrol Inc. Pilsen as Head of Trade Department and hereafter he moved to Prague starting a job in the big dairy company Pragolaktos Inc. as Consultant of Board of Directors. Starting the year 2000 till now he works at the Federation of the Food and Drink Industries of the Czech Republic as Director.

Markus Lange

Bundeskartellamt, International Department

Markus Lange is Head of the International Section of the Bundeskartellamt. He joined the Bundeskartellamt in September 1994 and has worked as case handler and rapporteur on cases predominantly in the sectors of automotive industry, banking, logistics/ transport. In the General Policy Division of the Bundeskartellamt he worked on issues concerning network industries and in the Public Relations Section. Markus Lange was born in 1968. He studied Economics at the University of Karlsruhe/ Germany, earning his degree in Economic Engineering in 1993, and completed further studies in Economics and Public Administration in England, Belgium and the US.

Ombretta Main

Italian Competition Authority, Community Affairs Direction

  • February 2008 – date   Head of  the Direction for Community Affairs, ICA 
  • 2006 – February 2008  Director of the Energy Unit, ICA
  • 1997 - 2003  Director  of the Professional Services Unit, ICA
  • 1993 - 1997  Case Officer, ICA

Professional Experience before joining the ICA: Senior researcher, CESCOM (Research Center for distribution  and retailing) Bocconi University, Milan; 1992 - 1993  Responsible of research programs on the food industry at PROMETEIA, Bologna; 1981 - 1984  Junior researcher,  IEFE (Institute of Energy Economics), Bocconi University, Milan, Italy

Education:  1981, Degree in Economics (Laurea), summa cum laude, University of Venice, Italy; 1985, Master in Economics, (Thesis: Economies of Scale and Pattern of Trade) University of Sussex, UK; 1995, Phd in Economics, (Thesis: Models of Partial Vertical Integration and Trade Policies with Product Differentiation), University of Sussex, UK

Paul Malric-Smith

DG Competition European Commission

Paul Malric-Smith is a Head of Unit for Cartels in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition, based in Brussels. He is responsible for anti-cartel enforcement, as well as a range of policy development initiatives in that field. As acting Director in 2005, he played a key role in preparing and setting up the Directorate dedicated to anti-Cartel activities, which was formally established in June 2005. Prior to joining the fore-runner Cartels Directorate in January 2005, Mr. Malric-Smith occupied positions within DG Competition as Head of Unit in the Merger Task Force, and as Head of the Energy Unit. He was a admitted as a Solicitor in England and Wales and a member of the Law Society. He has a BA (Hons) in Social Sciences from the University of Kent at Canterbury.

Robert Neruda

First vice-chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition 

Robert Neruda is the first vice-chairman of the Czech competition authority (the Office for the Protection of Competition). His key responsibilities are antitrust and merger issues. He worked for the competition authority during 2000 – 2003 at its international department, as a director of Analysis Department and as a deputy director for mergers. In 2004 and 2005, he served as an assistant to the judge at the Czech Supreme Administrative Court. After his comeback to the Office in late 2005, he has been member of the appellate committee in the area of public procurement and he was the chairman of the appellate committee for antitrust and mergers, as well. Robert Neruda holds a Ph.D. in law from Masaryk University of Brno, where he teaches the competition law and policy in two courses. He is a co-author of five books and author of dozens articles on competition and public procurement law. In May and June 2009, Robert Neruda served as the Office’s acting chairman.

Igor Pospíšil

Office for the Protection of Competition, Cartel Department 

Igor Pospíšil was born in 1977. He completed his studies at the Masaryk University Brno, Law Faculty in 2001. Since 2001 he has been working as a lawyer at the Office for the Protection of Competition. From 2005 to 2008 he held the position of Head of the Working Group Professionals, and in years 2006 and 2007 he was Director of Department II, Competition Section I., later as Department of Manufacturing and Retail. Since 2007 he has been working as Director of the Cartel Department. In between 2004 and 2007 he was also acting as lector of Administration-procedural law, registered by the Ministry of the Interior. He participated as author at several documents issued by the Office for the Protection of Competition and as speaker at different conferences and seminars in the area of competition law. He speaks Czech, English and German.

William Prasifka

Chair of the Irish Competition Authority

William Prasifka took up his position as Chairperson of the Competition Authority in April 2006.  William has extensive experience as a public servant and as a lawyer in private practice.  Prior to taking up the post of Chairperson of the Competition Authority, William held the position of Commissioner for Aviation Regulation, from 1999 to 2006.  Between 1996 and 1999 he was a Member of the Competition Authority.  Before entering the public sector, William worked as a lawyer in the private sector, in both Dublin and New York, where his work was predominantly in the areas of competition law, antitrust law, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions.  William is a member of the board of the National Consumer Agency and the National Competitiveness Council and also holds the position of Deputy Chairman of the Fullbright Commission and is President of the Irish, Czech and Slovak Society.

David Raus

Judge, Regional Court in Brno

He worked as an articled clerk from 1997 to 1999. Worked at the Office for the Protection of Competition in years 1999-2003 as a director of the legal department and chairman of advisory body of the Office's Chairman in antitrust matters. He worked as an assistant of Supreme Administrative Court judge from 2003 to 2006. He is a judge of regional court in Brno, focusing on protection of competition cases. He is an external teacher on department of Bussiness law of Masaryk University in Brno and co-author of publications about protection of competition and public procurement.

Gerhard Riehle

Independent business consultant

Born in Stuttgart (Germany). Following a humanistic High School education and a commercial training at a globally acting industrial enterprise studies of law in Germany and - on a “Ford Foundation” scholarship - in the U.S.A. “PhD”-degree (University of Tübingen) and “LL.M.”-degree (Austin/Tx.). Academic assistant at university. 1967-1991 managing partner of a SME company producing and distributing automotive parts and garage equipment. Since 1991 independent business consultant advising European trade associations on EU law-making initiatives; for many years CEO of ECAR. Contributions to EU legislative projects such as design protection, (criminal) enforcement of IPRs, on-board diagnostics, type-approval, end-of-life-vehicles. Quite a number of scholarly publications in the field of commercial law. Member of several supervisory boards.

Martijn Rijke

Netherland Competition Authority

BA/MA International and European Law (University of Nijmegen and Stockholm) -Human Rights Law, University of California Berkeley -Lawyer (business law and administrative law) PGD in EC Competition law King's College London -Senior Case-Handler Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa).

Jacques Steenbergen

Director General, Belgium Competition Authority

Prof. Dr. Jacques Steenbergen (born in Antwerp (Belgium) in 1949) is since 2007 Director General in the Belgian Competition Authority. He teaches competition law at the KU Leuven since 1979. Before joining the competition authority, he was partner in the Brussels office of Allen & Overy, and he has been legal secretary to the President of the Court of Justice under the presidency of Prof. J. Mertens de Wilmars. He is also editor in chief of the Dutch-Belgian European law review SEW,  chairman of the Board of the Stichting van het Koninklijk Conservatorium of Brussels (the foundation of the royal academy for music of Brussels), and honorary member of the Bar  of Brussels (Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten  bij de Balie te Brussel). He is a former member of the Brussels and Flemish Bar Councils. He lectured or gave conferences and served as member of nomination committees or PhD examination committees in institutes and universities in Austria, Belgium, China, the Czech Republic,  France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. He publishes regularly on EU and competition law. He obtained a PhD at the KU Leuven with prof. dr. W. van Gerven on legal remedies and ailing industries (1978). He holds a masters degree in law from the KU Leuven (1972), and bachelor degrees or equivalent certificates in law, philosophy and economics from the University of Antwerp (UFSIA)(1969).

Zuzana Šabová

Slovak Competition Authority

Zuzana Šabová has been working on Anti-Monopoly Office in Slovakia as Director of the second instance proceedings (the proceedings on the appeal against first instance decisions of the Authority). The jurisdiction of this department includes in particular organization of second instance proceedings, the preparation of second-level decisions and related agenda for the Council of the Antimonopoly Office. She started to work as a lawyer in 2000 in Authority, she has been working as a Head of Department since 2003. Zuzana Šabová was born 25.08.1977 in Bratislava. She graduated in the Faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava. She finished studies law in 2000 and in 2003 gained the title JUDr. This faculty also an external teacher teaches Comparative Competition Law (comparative competition law).

Jindřich Šnejdrla

Vice - President of the Czech Agrarian Chamber

Mr. Jindřich Šnejdrla exercises position of Vice - President of the Czech Agrarian Chamber since 2008. He was born 15th December 1957. He has been studying at the University of Agriculture in Brno from 1977 to 1982. In 1993, he co-established Company Limited operating classical agricultural production. Mr. Šnejdrla as a co-owner and Director manages this company up to now.

Miroslav Uřičař

General Counsel, T-Mobile Czech Republic a.s.

Miroslav Uricar (born in 1974 in Ostrava) graduated from the Faculty of Law at Charles University in Prague. He worked as legal counsel in the corporate sector, e.g. at OKD a.s. Since 1999, he has been employed at T-Mobile Czech Republic a.s., where he is currently Vice President of the Legal and Regulatory Department, holding the post of General Counsel. He is also responsible for External Affairs and participates in international projects within the Deutsche Telekom Group. He specializes in administrative law and in regulatory issues related to network industries, especially the electronic communications industry, including aspects involving competition law issues. He is the chairman of the legislative committee of the Czech Association for Competition Law. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Mobile Network Operators. He has published in professional journals, is a member of the Editorial Board of the International In-house Counsel Journal, and occasionally lectures at conferences and seminars.

Lucie Zamykalová

Senior Expert on the international relations (patents)

Lucie Zamykalová works for the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic at the international department. She is a Senior Expert with the responsibility for patent law issues at the regional and international level. Regularly she attends the meetings at the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) and Council Working Party on Intellectual Property (Patents) where currently the Community Patent is inter alia discussed. For 5 years she worked for the Patent Department as a patent examiner with the main responsibility for the granting patents on the patent applications and the registration of the utility model applications from the organic chemistry field. She holds Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees from the Institute of Chemical Technologies in Prague, where she studied food technologies and a Bachelor degree from Charles University, where she studied healthcare bioanalytics at the Faculty of Pharmacy.

Barbara Zubriczky

Hungarian Competition Authority

        • Oct 2004-present  Hungarian Competition Authority, Production and Services Section; investigator-adviser
        • Febr 2004 - July 2004  Universitá degli Studi di Torino “Uniform terminology for European Private Law” EU research project; researcher
        • Febr 2003 – Sept 2003  Notus Energy GmbH, Potsdam project assistant
        • Sept 2001 – Sept 2002  Hungarian Competition Authority, Competition Policy Section; investigator

          • Education: Oct 2002 – Oct 2003   Freie Universität Berlin, LLM Magisterstudium; Sept 1995 – July 2001  Pázmány Péter Catholic University Faculty of Law and Political Sciences; Sept 1997 – Sept 1998  Holborn College London, Diploma Course Law of International Trade, Commercial Law.

      • file icon Abuse of buyer power - Experience of the Hungarian competition authority 177 KB
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