Upcoming SCF Event – competition law and a “no deal” Brexit

The Scottish Competition Forum invites you to join us at our next event on 8 October 2019, hosted by Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP in Edinburgh.

As we head towards the very real prospect of a ‘No Deal’ Brexit on 31 October 2019, this event will consider the potential impacts of ‘No Deal’ for the competition law landscape in Scotland, such as:

• the merger control and anti-competitive practices regime;
• State Aid control; and
• the public procurement regime

and will discuss the steps which various stakeholders are taking in order to anticipate and prepare for those impacts.

We are delighted to announce that we will be joined by Dr Arianna Andreangeli from the University of Edinburgh, and distinguished speakers from the CMA who will be announced shortly.

Dr Arianna Andreangeli is the Lecturer in Competition law at Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh. Her research interests lie in the area of EU and domestic competition law: she has written widely on questions of due process and human rights’ protection in the context of competition enforcement (EU Competition enforcement and human rights, 2008: Cheltenham, E Elgar) and on the role of the EU competition rules in innovative markets; she has also published a monograph examining the issues arising from the collective litigation of competition cases in the EU and US (Private enforcement of Antitrust, 2014: Cheltenham, E Elgar).

Recent work has focused on the role of devolved administration in UK competition policy especially in light of Brexit. She was a Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) Academic Fellow in 2017 and worked on a project in this broad area. She is currently researching the consequences of Artificial Intelligence as a possible factor of “legal disruption” of current approaches to the imputability of cartel behaviour.

The event will include speaker presentations, a panel discussion and audience Q&A chaired by Gordon Downie, Partner and Head of Regulation and Markets at Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP, and further discussion and networking over drinks.

Registration and coffee will be from 5.30pm with the event itself commencing at 6pm.

We hope that you can join us.

You can register to attend this event here.

Scottish Competition Forum discusses competition issues around FDI in China

This year marked 10 years since the inception of Chinese competition law and we have seen rapid development reflecting the growth of the Chinese economy. On 19 June the Scottish Competition Forum was presented with an update on the system.

With rapidly growing economies around the world, such as China, the EU and Member States’ national governments have been increasingly concerned about influence exerted by foreign actors using ownership of, or influence over, European businesses and assets to harm the European economy. The final part of the event turned to a discussion on the intricacies of foreign direct investment.

Speakers:

o Political Economy of Chinese Competition Law – Dr Wendy Ng (University of Melbourne)

o Overview of 10 years of Chinese Competition Law – Prof Mark Furse (University of Glasgow)

o Foreign Direct Investment – Michael Dean (Dentons)

Richard Whish speaks to the Scottish Competition Forum

On Monday 25 March 2019 the Scottish Competition Forum welcomed Professor Richard Whish to Edinburgh to present an update on merger control.

Professor Whish covered a range of recent developments in issues such as:

• gun-jumping,
• jurisdiction thresholds,
• misleading information,
• the failing firm defence, and
• increasing use of fines by the CMA.

Attendees discussed a number of questions concerning recent CMA and European Commission practices and Professor Whish gave his predictions on future developments.

Richard Whish QC (Hon) is Emeritus Professor of competition law at King’s College London and a highly respected legal author. He practised as a solicitor until 1998 and has also been Visiting Professor of Law at the College of Europe in Bruges, a member of the Advisory Panel of DG Fair Trading from 2001 to 2003 and a director of the Board of the OFT from 2003 to 2009.