International workshops address a range of competition and consumer protection issues, including when the exchange of information constitutes an illegal agreement, and whether leniency programmes work and obtaining information from whistle-blowers is expedient  

Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) hosted the meeting on October 25. It was accompanied by meetings of the European Competition Network Cartel Working Group. Representatives of the European Commission, national competition authorities, Polish and foreign experts on competition law and representatives of academia participated. They discussed current issues and challenges in effectively combating cartels, which are among the most harmful competition-restricting practices for both the market and consumers.

“Fighting collusion is particularly difficult in the age of high-speed technological development. This does not mean, however, that the participants of collusion can sleep peacefully. Antitrust authorities are also developing their own methods of detecting cartels. And that is what the meeting was about — exchanging experience and knowledge on the prevention and elimination of agreements that hamper competition,” said UOKiK President Marek Niechciał in his introductory remarks.

The meeting consisted of two panels. At the first, entrepreneurs and other representatives of the business community discussed when exchanging information restricts competition. The representatives from the Netherlands, Italy, Lithuania and the European Commission followed this up with examples of decisions in which an infringement was cited.

The second part of the meeting was a discussion of investigative strategies antitrust authorities can use. Panel members debated the effectiveness of leniency programmes, which varies from country to country. In Germany, leniency figures in around half of all cases, while in France the share runs to nearly 70 percent. Representatives of Hungary and Poland, on the other hand, indicated that work remains to be done to bolster their programmes’ effectiveness.

According to the panelists, a number of factors prevent enterprises from coming forward. These include the fear that a leniency application will be rejected by the Authority or that lawsuits may be filed by entities wishing to obtain compensation for losses arising from cartel activities. Historical events that may have inculcated a lack of social acceptance of the disclosure of illegal practices are third factor. Moreover, a higher number of leniency requests implies effective detection of cartels and severe penalties for violations.

The last topic of discussion concerned obtaining information from whistle-blowers, who tend to come forward in Germany and Hungary more than elsewhere.

Videos are available on page: https://uokik.gov.pl/media.php?kat=48

Additional information for the media:

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