The ICN’s Agenda: What to Look For in 2013-2014

CPI ICN Column edited by Maria Coppola (U.S. Federal Trade Commission)

Last month, the International Competition Network held its twelfth annual conference, hosted by Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in Warsaw. As the ICN’s largest and only all-encompassing meeting of the year, the annual conference serves as a natural reflection point for recent accomplishments and anticipated future work within the network. ICN is a year-round endeavor, with its members and non-governmental advisor partners participating in a host of ongoing projects across the full range of competition law and policy topics. This update provides a sense of the inspiration for ICN’s current agenda and an overview of the specific work it is likely to undertake over the coming year.

In addressing the 2013 annual conference, ICN Chair Eduardo Pérez Motta (Chair of Mexico’s Federal Competition Commission) identified three priorities for the ICN this coming year: advocating for competition policy, developing best practices, and bolstering efforts to promote ICN work product.¹ Along with the Chair’s remarks, the new 2013-2016 work plans for each of the ICN’s five substantive working groups² provide a detailed look at the ICN’s goals and work for the coming year. Further, the inspiration of much of today’s ICN agenda is recognizable from the guidance set out in the 2011 ICN’s Vision for its Second Decade. The Vision citied four high-level g