- Ensuring fair competition on the market is the best way of protecting consumer welfare, said William E. Kovacic, a world renowned professor of competition law, at the guest lecture he gave at the University of Warsaw

In his lecture at the University of Warsaw Professor Kovacic focused on the role of Consumer Protection in a Fair Market Economy underlining that competitive markets are essential for effective consumer protection. To prove this point, he gave the example of telecommunications revolution which took place in the last decades. – When I was a child all telephones in the US looked exactly the same. Consumers had no choice because the same monopolist company was both the supplier of telephones and the operator of the telecommunications network. It was only the abolishing of barriers to free competition that created conditions for innovation, e.g. the development of mobile phone technology, stated the former Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. The conditions necessary for a well-functioning competitive market guaranteeing consumer protection include, in Kovacic’s view: free access to the market, absence of duress and truthful representations made by companies about their products and services.

During his stay in Warsaw Professor William E. Kovacic also took part in an international seminar on vertical restraints held at the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK).

William E. Kovacic was the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commision (FTC) between 2008 and 2009, and since 2013 has been the Non-Executive Director of the UK Competition and Markets Authority. In the 1990s, he advised governments of countries such as Armenia, Egypt, Georgia, Indonesia, Morocco, Russia, or Ukraine, to name just a few. He is also Professor of Global Competition Law and Policy at the George Washington University Law School in USA and Director of the School’s Competition Law Centre.

Professor Kovacic’s lecture slides are available for download below.