Course three: International Competition Law

Course 3: International Competition Law

The programme is a five day intensive masterclass on international competition law, including practical workshops and course evaluation. 

The programme combines insights from law, policy and economics in an integrated and intense immersion into international competition law.  Beyond a case-by-case study of specific regimes the programme provides in-depth comparative analysis drawing from experience and best practices in more established competition law regimes (including the US and EU) as well as cameo case studies of emerging markets competition law.

With a view to placing the international comparative analysis in context the programme provides an exploration of Asian competition regimes, both established and newer.

Among the profiled jurisdictions are Japan and South Korea and later adopters including China, India and Hong Kong.

The Indian Competition Act 2002, implemented in stages since 2009, provides a benchmark for comparison where it significantly updates India’s competition law, which was considered lacking in teeth.  Modelled largely on laws prevailing in the European Union and influenced by similar regulation in the US, the Indian competition laws borrow many concepts from foreign jurisdictions.  The Hong Kong Competition Ordinance 2012, which fully entered into force on 14 December 2015, has implemented a new comprehensive competition law in Hong Kong.  This is the first time that an economy-wide competition law has been adopted in Hong Kong, in contrast to the previous regime that regulated solely the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors. 

The course will explore:

• The policy background to development and enactment of competition law internationally.
• The challenges of implementing competition law in emerging markets and smaller economies, including island economies.
• The development of competition law in the ASEAN countries, including China, Japan and South Korea.
• A study of India’s competition law: evolution, practice and challenges.
• A study of the basic provisions of the Hong Kong Competition Ordinance including: The First Conduct Rule; the Second Conduct Rule; the Merger Rule and the Telecommunications Rule.
• The procedural and enforcement framework including complaints, leniency and appeals.
• Managing multi-jurisdictional competition investigations and mergers, from the perspective of regulator and affected parties.
• The significance of competition law investigations internationally across key sectors of the economy including: Broadcasting and Telecommunications; Construction; Energy; Financial Services; Retail; Transportation.

Key benefits:

• Insights from the international (US, EU and Asian) experience in this fast-moving and high profile area.
• Interactive case studies and workshops.
• Experience and presentation from a leading practitioner and author in the field, Suzanne Rab who has advised on some of the largest competition law deals internationally and is author of leading texts on competition law and IPR.  Suzanne is the author of Atkins Court Forms in Civil Proceedings, Competition Law, Volume 10, 2016; Cross-Border Copyright Licensing, Law and Practice, Elgar Intellectual Property Law and Practice series, 2018 (co-contributor); Indian Competition Law, an International Perspective (first published by Wolters Kluwer, May 2012; with a supplement of cartel regulation published in January 2013). 
• Certificate of Satisfactory Completion on satisfactory completion of the course and Competition Law Certificate of Attendance upon achieving the required pass-mark.
• Cultural immersion into ‘legal London’ including visits to the courts, the Inns of Court and a leading barristers Chambers.
• Opportunity to combine the course with Course 2 (Practical Skills for Competition Law Dispute Resolution, Course 1 (EU and UK Competition Law) and Course 4 (Comparative Media Ownership Regulation).

 The course will be of particular interest to:

• Competition lawyers or non-competition lawyers who want to acquire an understanding of competition law internationally and in specific Asian jurisdictions because of their work there
• Post-graduate students who have a specific interest in international competition law and in Asian jurisdictions.
• New staff at newer competition and regulatory authorities including Asian competition and regulatory authorities as part of their induction.
• Mid-sized local (Asian) law firms who want to give trainees or recently qualified lawyers an understanding of competition law, but who do not have the size/depth of in-house expertise to organise the training internally.
• Large companies/companies based locally (in Asia) more likely to be the object of competition law scrutiny who want to give staff an understanding of competition law, but who do not have the size/depth of in-house expertise to organise the training internally
• Regulatory policy-makers seeking a robust substantive and practical grounding in international and particularly Asian competition law to inform their development of competition and regulatory policy. 

Duration: 5 days plus half-day evaluation (submitted electronically)

Timetable