15-17 November 2021
The 3rd EU-Korea Competition Week took place online between 15th and 17th November 2021. The initiative is the third in a series of annual dialogues providing a platform for cooperation and frank exchanges between the European Commission Directorate-General for Competition (DG Competition), the EU Member States National Competition Authorities and the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). This year, the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) also took part in the discussions.
The Competition Week consisted of three days of closed-door sessions, two between the KFTC and DG Competition and one day with MOTIE. The first day discussions focused on the evolving regulatory and enforcement landscape on competition and digital markets. The second day of exchanges focused on the economic analysis in abuse of dominance cases, with a focus on margin squeeze. The third day of the Competition Week consisted of an exchange between DG Competition and MOTIE and provided an introduction of the respective practices for the control of State aid / subsidies.
Experts and officials explored ways to ensure that the digital economy benefits consumers and the broader economy, encouraging frank exchanges of views and experiences on a range of technical topics.
This allowed both sides to address the priorities and challenges in their competition policy and enforcement and to engage in constructive technical and practical exchanges.
EU-Korea Competition Weeks will take place annually, allowing officials from DG Competition and the KFTC to engage in a dialogue to enhance cooperation and transparency in the field of competition.
AGENDA
TBC
Monday 16 November 2020
The future of regulation and competition enforcement in digital markets in the EU and Korea
06:45-07:00: Registration / Virtual room open
07:05-07:25: Opening remarks:
Mr Tae Ho HWANG, Director, International Cooperation Division, Korea Fair Trade Commission
Mr. Christophe Besse, Head of Trade Section, EU Delegation to Korea
09:25 -10:00: New initiatives in Europe and Korea to preserve and promote competition in digital markets
This session will provide an overview of the respective EU and Korean recent initiatives to identify and address competition concerns in the digital economy. This will include an overview of recent studies and next steps, enforcement actions, as well as proposals for online platform regulation and new regulatory tools. It will consider the rationale for these initiatives as well as the merits and challenges of ex ante regulation. In addition the session will explore the potential for divergent approaches to regulation and enforcement across jurisdictions given the international nature of many online platforms, and how to address such risks.
Moderator: Ms. Hilary Jennings, Senior Competition Expert, Competition Cooperation Project
Presentations by:
– Ms Inhea KO, Senior Deputy Director, Anti-Monopoly Division, Korea Fair Trade Commission
– Mr Thorsten KÄSEBERG, Head of Unit, General Issues of Competition Policy, Competition Law, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Germany
– Mr Claes BENGTSSON, Head of Unit, Chief Economist’s Team, Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Discussion session
Tuesday 17 November 2020
Economic tools for assessing competition in digital markets
06:45-07:00: Registration / Virtual room open
07:05-09:45: Applying economic tools to competition analysis in digital platforms
This session will discuss EU and Korean experiences with analysing market power and the competitive process in the case of digital platforms. Topics to consider:
- market definition issues and the suitability of market definition
- market definition, market power or wider assessments of platform markets’ ecosystems?
- assessing the dynamics of competition in digital markets – dynamic consumer welfare vs static efficiencies;
- switching analysis from prices and consumer switching behaviour to investment and innovation?
- are rule of thumb tools still relevant in this analysis?
- is there a consistent analytical framework?
- case examples
Moderator: Ms. Hilary Jennings, Senior Competition Expert, Competition Cooperation Project
Presentations by:
– Mr Claes BENGTSSON, Head of Unit, Chief Economist’s Team, Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
– Mr Etienne Pfister, Chief Economist, Autorité de la Concurrence – French Competition Authority
– Mr Sung Ick CHO, Director, Economic Analysis Division, Korea Fair Trade Commission
Discussion session
09:45-10:00: Closing remarks
– Mr Torben TOFT, Senior Expert, Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
– Mr Tae Ho HWANG, Director, International Cooperation Division, Korea Fair Trade Commission