Sustainability and competition law – a conflict?
2022-04-07 12:15 - 14:00 (Europe/Oslo) | Auditorium 4, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Hordaland, 5010, Norway
Professor Maarten Pieter Schinkel
A more sustainable society is needed to slow down and ultimately reverse the rapid climate change. For firms to become more sustainable, they are often encouraged to join forces for example by entering sustainability agreements. This triggers the questions of whether the ban on anticompetitive agreements is a problem when faced with these types of climate friendly collaborations, and if so, whether competition law should be revised in order to allow for sustainability considerations to be taken into account as possible justifications under the prohibition against anticompetitive agreements.
BECCLE is pleased to announce a panel of four expert speakers:

Professor Maarten Pieter Schinkel, University of Amsterdam (presentation)
Associate professor Ronny Gjendemsjø, Faculty of Law, University of Bergen (presentation)
Director General Tina Søreide, Norwegian Competition Authority (presentation)
Partner Siri Teigum, Thommessen Law Firm
Lawyer Kristoffer Grøndahl, Thommessen Law Firm (presentation)

Time: Thursday April 7 at 12:15-14:00
Venue: Auditorium 4, Faculty of Law, University of Bergen (Magnus Lagabøtes Plass 1)
You can also follow the seminar on Zoom. To join us on Zoom, please follow the invitation link below:
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 614 9628 6840
Password: [REDACTED]

Seminar on the General Court’s Google shopping judgment
2022-04-29 10:15 - 12:00 | Auditorium 4, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Hordaland, 5010, Norway
BECCLE is organizing a seminar about the General Court’s judgments in the Google shopping case and the Intel case with several well distinguished speakers. The judgment raises several interesting issues related to competition in digital markets, and the speakers will discuss the judgment from different angles.
Thomas Vinje (partner of Clifford and Chance and assistant professor II Faculty of Law, University of Bergen), will give an overview of the judgment
Jorge Padilla (Compass Lexecon) will discuss the implications of the General Court’s rulings in the Google Shopping and Intel cases for the standard of proof in Article 102 TFEU
Cani Fernandez (president of the Spanish Competition Authorities) will discuss the interface between antitrust law and the Digital Markets act in the light of the Google Shopping judgment.
Time: Friday 29th April at 10:15 to 12:00
Venue: Auditorium 4, Faculty of Law, University of Bergen (Magnus Lagabøtes Plass 1)
The seminar will also be streamed on Zoom.

Seminar om prisregulering på dagligvarer
2022-05-06 10:30 - 13:00 | Auditorium 4, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Hordaland, 5010, Norway
Bør innkjøpspriser på dagligvarer reguleres?
Det har i flere år pågått en debatt angående forskjeller i innkjøpspriser på dagligvarer og hvordan det evt. påvirker konkurransen i dagligvaremarkedet. Denne debatten er nå igjen aktuell, etter at SV nylig har sendt et representantforslag til Stortinget om å regulere innkjøpspriser på dagligvare. Vi har bedt tre akademikere og tre personer fra bransjen kommentere forslaget fra SV:
Professor Espen Moen, BI,
Professor Øystein Foros, NHH,
Førsteamanuensis Ronny Gjendemsjø, Universitetet i Bergen,
Karl Alveng Munthe-Kaas, Oda
Stein Rømmerud, Norgesgruppen
Helge Hasselgård, Dagligvareleverandørenes Forening

Seminaret avsluttes med en paneldebatt ledet av Tor Arne Fanghol fra universitetsavisen Khrono.
Seminaret kan følges både fysisk og digitalt.

Seminar on EU merger control
2022-05-24 12:15 - 13:30 | Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics, Room E209/E210, Helleveien 30, Bergen, Norway
Tomaso Duso will present his empirical study of EU merger control, done jointly with Paula Affeldt, Klaus Gugler and Joanna Piechucka. They analyze more than 1000 mergers scrutinized by the European Commission between 1980 and 2019. One finding from their study is that they are concerned about the Commission’s merger enforcement being too lax.
Time: May 24 2022, 12.15-13.30
Venue: Room E209/210, Norwegian School of Economics
This is a joint seminar with Center for Business Economics (CBE) at NHH

Download paper here.

Abstract: Worldwide, the overwhelming majority of large horizontal mergers are cleared by antitrust authorities unconditionally. The presumption seems to be that efficiencies from these mergers are sizeable. We calculate the compensating efficiencies that would prevent a merger from harming consumers for 1,014 mergers affecting 12,325 antitrust markets scrutinized by the European Commission between 1990 and 2018. Compensating efficiencies seem too large to be achievable for many mergers. Barriers to entry and the number of firms active in the market are the most important factors determining their size. We highlight concerns about the Commission’s merger enforcement being too lax.

BECCLE Competition Policy Conference 2022
2022-06-02 - 2022-06-03 | Hordaland
Bergen Center for Competition Law and Economics (BECCLE) is pleased to announce the sixth annual conference on competition policy on the 2nd and 3rd of June in Bergen, Norway.
The conference combines sessions with invited speakers and presentations and discussions of original research papers in the fields of competition law and economics.
Time and date: 2 and 3 June 2022
Location: NHH Norwegian School of Economics
Contact: For any questions, please contact the organising committee via beccle@nhh.no
Registration: The BECCLE conference is open also for persons not presenting a paper. HERE you can register for the conference.
Topics for the keynote speakers and invited sessions at the 2022 BECCLE conference will be (i) abuse/vertical restraints in digital markets or (ii) merger evaluations. The contributed sessions will include papers on all topics on competition law and economics, both theoretical and empirical, as well as case studies. The deadline for submissions has now passed. Authors of accepted papers will be notified no later than April 21, 2022. All papers will be allocated a discussant, and presenters may be asked to discuss a paper.
Keynote speakers:

Professor Volker Nocke, University of Mannheim
Professor Pinar Akman, University of Leeds
Professor Massimo Motta, ICREA-Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Barcelona Graduate School of Economics

Invited speakers:
Merger evaluation

Joel Stiebale, Dusseldorf Institute for Competition Economics
Celine Bonnet, Toulouse School of Economics
Franco Mariuzzo, University of East Anglia

Abuse/Vertical restraint in digital markets

Özlem Bedre Defolie, ESMT Berlin
Andres Hervas-Drane, Bayes Business School
Nikhil Vellodi, Paris School of Economics

Title for the invited session on law: “Competition Law and Digital Markets: Vertical Restraints and the Digital Markets Act”

Professor Pieter Van Cleynenbreugel, University of Liège
Professor David Bosco, Aix-Marseille University
Professor Bjørn Lundqvist, Stockholm University

The program can be found HERE.
Additional Information
There is no conference fee. We offer lunch free of charge to all attendees. We also offer a conference dinner (free of charge) to all presenters. Information about registration will be available here soon. The conference hotel is Thon Hotel Bristol Bergen. Invited speakers and contributed speakers will receive information by email on how to proceed to book a room at the conference hotel. Contributed speakers will have to pay for travel and accommodation.
Conference organizers
Scientific Committee

Greg Shaffer (U Rochester and UoB/BECCLE)
Thibaud Verge (ENSAE ParisTech and NHH/BECCLE)
Özlem Bedre-Defolie (ESMT Berlin)
Joseph Harrington (U Pennsylvania and NHH/BECCLE)
Erling Hjelmeng (U Oslo and BECCLE)
Frode Steen (NHH and BECCLE)
Malin Arve (NHH and BECCLE)
Tommy Staahl Gabrielsen (U Bergen and BECCLE)
Ronny Gjendemsjø (U Bergen and BECCLE)
Ignacio Herrera Anchustegui (U Bergen and BECCLE)
Bjørn Olav Johansen (U Bergen and BECCLE)
Tore Nilssen (U Oslo and BECCLE)
Eeva Mauring (U Bergen and BECCLE)
Lars Sørgard (NHH and BECCLE)
Kurt Brekke (NHH and BECCLE)
Ingrid Margrethe Halvorsen Barlund (U Bergen and BECCLE)

Local Organising Committee

Marianne Boge (NHH)
Paula Navarro Sarmiento (NHH)
Emil Mathias Strøm Halseth (NHH)
Marte Reisæter (U Bergen)

Joint purchasing of energy in the EU - competition law barriers and geopolitical implications
2022-06-09 10:00 - 12:00 | Auditorium 4, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Hordaland, 5010, Norway
On the 9th of June, The Bergen Centre for Competition Law and Economics and the Research Group for Natural Resource Law, Environmental Law and Development Law hosted a hybrid seminar on joint purchasing of energy with a special focus on competition law barriers and geopolitical implications of joint purchase of gas.
There is a public debate now regarding the function that joint gas procurement might play in energy procurement in Europe. This calls for clarification on exactly which problem joint procurement should address, which entails the scope of gas contracts that would be considered, economic implications and how implementation might work.
For more information about the seminar, see HERE or check each speaker’s slides (click on the title). The seminar is recorded, and can be found HERE.

The speakers on the seminar were the following:

Professor Leigh Hancher, European Law at the University of Tilburg: The joint purchasing options in a moving energy landscape
Associate Professor Ignacio Herrera Anchustegui, Faculty of Law, University of Bergen:Competition law and joint purchasing of energy
Professor Lars Sørgard, Norwegian School of Economics and BECCLE: Implications of the decisions for energy markets and Norway
Partner Monica Syrdal, Hjort law firm: Organizing joint energy purchasing: practical considerations

Er fusjonskontrollen for streng?
2022-09-01 10:00 - 11:30 | Auditorium 4, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Hordaland, 5010, Norway
Seminar om inngrep mot fusjoner og oppkjøp
Griper Konkurransetilsynet for ofte inn mot fusjoner og oppkjøp i Norge, eller burde det blitt grepet enda oftere inn mot fusjoner og oppkjøp? Internasjonalt foregår det en debatt om dette temaet, der både konkurransejurister og konkurranseøkonomer har ulike synspunkter på om dagens praksis er for streng. Det er også flere eksempler på at inngrep er blitt prøvet ut i rettssystemet. Denne internasjonale debatten er også relevant for Norge, da vi har harmonisert vår inngrepsterskel med den som er i EU.

Det er også en debatt i Norge om dette temaet, blant annet som følge av at to forbudsvedtak fra Konkurransetilsynet før sommeren ble opphevet av hhv Konkurranseklagenemnda (DnB/Sbanken, rettskraftig vedtak) og Gulating lagmannsrett (Finn/Nettbil, anket til Høyesterett). Vurdert opp mot inngrepsterskelen (den såkalt SIEC – i betydelig grad vil hindre effektiv konkurranse), er Konkurransetilsynet for strenge eller for lite strenge?

Vi ønsker å belyse dette spørsmålet både fra et juridisk og et økonomisk ståsted. Innledere er

Partner Heidi Jorkjend, Advokatfirmaet Thommessen
Professor Eirik Østerud, Institutt for Privatrett, Universitetet i Oslo
Professor Tommy S. Gabrielsen, Institutt for økonomi, Universitetet i Bergen

Seminaret vil bli holdt

Auditorium 4, Juridisk Fakultet, Universitetet i Bergen
Torsdag 1. september kl 10-11.30

Seminaret vil også bli strømmet. Trykk HER for strømming.

From bid rigging to zero pricing
2022-09-28 | NHH, Helleveien 30, Bergen, 5045, Norway
BECCLE, jointly with NHH, SNF and UiB, host this workshop gathering leading legal and economic experts specialized in the interaction between collusive practices and public procurements. Six international speakers plus the Head of The Norwegian Competition Authority, Tina Søreide, will be joining to discuss the law and economics of this important interaction.
Place: Karl Borch’s Auditorium, Norwegian School of Economics
Time: September 28, 08.00-16.00
For more information, see HERE.

Market investigation tool in Norway?
2022-10-21 10:00 - 12:00 | Auditorium 3, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Norway
Market investigation tool in Norway?

In recent years, there has been an ongoing debate about new competition law tools that could complement existing competition law tools. In the EU both the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) have been heavily debated. At the same time there are countries such as Iceland and United Kingdom that already for many years have had a competition tool called “market investigation”. This is a tool that makes it possible to investigate a particular industry, and propose measures to correct any adverse effect on competition even if there is no established violation of the competition rules. Earlier this year, the Norwegian Ministry for Industry and Fisheries proposed that the Norwegian Competition Authority should be given the authority to perform market investigations, similar to the CMA’s model. So far such a new competition tool has not been implemented. The seminar invites to a discussion on the pros and cons of such a new competition tool. To do this, we have three distinguished speakers:

Senior Director Daniel Gordon, Competition & Markets Authority, United Kingdom
Senior Advisor Hans-Petter Håvås Hanson, Norwegian Competition Authority
Partner Kristin Hjelmaas Valla, Kvale law firm

Daniel Gordon will explain the market investigation tool that has been used in the UK for many years, while Hans-Petter Håvås Hanson will discuss the main reasons for introducing such a competition tool in Norway. Kristin Hjelmaas Valla will discuss such a competition tool seen from the business society’s perspective.

When: Friday October 21, 10-12 am
Where: Auditorium 3, Faculty of Law, University of Bergen

The seminar will also be streamed HERE.

Finn/Nettbil saken: Lærdommer fra Høyesteretts dom
2023-04-11 | Auditorium 4, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Hordaland, 5010, Norway
I november 2020 forbød Konkurransetilsynet Schibsteds oppkjøp av Nettbil, basert på at det ville medføre en betydelig begrensning i effektiv konkurranse i markedet. Konkurranseklagenemnda ga i mai 2021 Konkurransetilsynet medhold. Partene anket til Gulating lagmannsrett, og de fikk i mars 2022 medhold. Staten anket saken inn for Høyesterett, og Høyesterett forkastet i februar 2023 anken. Det var hovedsakelig basert på at Finn og Nettbils produkter ikke konkurrerte med hverandre.
I dette seminaret ønsker vi å diskutere Finn/Nettbil saken, og hvilke implikasjoner Høyesteretts dom får for fremtidige saker om foretakssammenslutninger. For å belyse det både fra et juridisk og økonomisk ståsted, har vi følgende to innledere:

Professor Erling Hjelmeng, Institutt for Privatrett, Universitetet i Oslo
Professor Frode Steen, Institutt for samfunnsøkonomi, Norges Handelshøyskole

Det vil bli satt av god tid til spørsmål og innlegg fra salen.
Seminaret vil bli holdt:

Auditorium 4, Juridisk Fakultet, Universitetet i Bergen
Tirsdag 11. april kl 14.15-15.45

Seminaret vil også bli strømmet. Opptaket kan sees her. Lysbildene fra innleggene er vedlagt nedenfor.
Erling Hjelmeng , Frode Steen

Energy infrastructure in times of energy and climate emergency
2023-05-11 10:00 - 11:45 | Auditoriet, Jus II, University of Bergen, Jekteviksbakken 31, Bergen, Norway
The Research group for Natural Resource Law, Environmental Law and Development Law and the Bergen Center for Competition Law & Economics (BECCLE), had the pleasure of hosting a hybrid webinar on the 11th of May at 10.00 am at the Faculty of Law University of Bergen on Energy infrastructure in times of energy and climate emergency. Three recognized experts presented their perspectives on the topic and the session was accompanied by an interactive Q&A.
Our speakers (and their topic titles) for this session were (click on the titles to see the presentations):

Lars Sørgard, Professor in Economics (NHH) and leader of the Energy Commission (Norway) – The state’s role in investment in more renewable energy: The Norwegian experience
Ronnie Belmans, Emeritus Professor in Electrical Energy Systems (KU Leuven) and EnergyVille – Building wind turbines offshore may be the easy part
Vaido Poldoja, Senior Legal Office (EFTA Surveillance Authority) and State aid expert – State aid news in times of energy and climate transformation

This session was moderated by Prof. Leigh Hancher (UiB, Tilburg & FSR).
Agenda:

10.00 Doors open
10.05 Seminar starts
11.20 Presentations finish
11.45 Q&A session ends

Recording of the seminar can be seen HERE
The seminar was held in the Auditorium of JUS II – https://goo.gl/maps/spvyZQpHsuDKRApV6

About our speakers and moderator:

Lars Sørgard is professor at Norwegian School of Economics and director of BECCLE. His research field is competition policy, and he served as the Director General of The Norwegian Competition Authority 2016-22. He has also done research and policy work on the energy market, now recently he was the leader of the Energy Commission that delivered its report in February this year (NOU 2022:3).

Ronnie Belmans received Ronnie Belmans is emeritus full professor at KU Leuven. His research interests include smart grids, security of energy supply, techno-economic aspects of the liberalisation of the electricity market and energy system modelling. He was co-founder and chairman of EnergyVille (until 2021), a research collaboration in Genk specializing in sustainable energy and intelligent energy systems. From 2017-2022, he was chairman of the board of directors of the VREG, the Flemisch regulator for electricity & gas markets. Ronnie is also honorary chairman of the board of directors of the Belgian transmission system operator.

Vaido Poldoja is a Senior Legal Officer at the Competition and State aid directorate of the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA). Among other tasks, Vaido handles adopting ESA’s new Guidelines on State aid for Climate, Environmental protection and Energy. Prior to joining ESA, Vaido worked in various state aid units at the European Commission (DG Competition) and spent several years in private practice at a pan-Baltic law firm in Estonia.

Leigh Hancher is Professor of European Law at the University of Tilburg. She is a part-time Professor at the Florence School of Regulation within the European University Institute and the Director of the FSR Energy Union Law Area. Her research interests include energy market regulation, EU state aids and energy market governance. She has also been a Professor at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, a Visiting Professor at the University of Calgary, Canada, Head of Legal at the Energy Charter Secretariat in Brussels and a member of the Dutch Academic Advisory Council (WRR).

Mergers and Demand-Enhancing Innovation
2023-05-16 12:15 - 13:30 | Room E209/E210, Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics, Helleveien 30, Bergen, Norway
CANCELLED! (Due to cancelled flight)
Yassine Lefouili from the Toulouse School of Economics will give a seminar on Mergers and Demand-Enhancing Innovation. This is a joint seminar of the Centre for Business Economics (NHH) and BECCLE.

Abstract
We study the impact of horizontal mergers on merging firms’ incentives to invest in demand-enhancing innovation. In our baseline model, we identify four effects of a symmetric merger on these incentives: the innovation diversion effect, the margin expansion effect, the demand expansion effect, and the per unit return to innovation effect. We offer sufficient conditions for a merger to reduce or raise merging firms’ incentives to innovate in the absence of spillovers and efficiency gains in R&D, and find that a comparison between the innovation diversion and price diversion ratios is informative about the impact of a merger on innovation.

The seminar will take place on the 16th of May from 12.15 to 13.30 pm at the Department of Economics at NHH, room E209/210.

BECCLE Competition Policy Conference 2023
2023-06-01 08:00 - 2023-06-02 16:00 | Hordaland
Bergen Center for Competition Law and Economics (BECCLE) is pleased to announce the seventh annual conference on competition policy on the 1st and 2nd of June 2023 in Bergen, Norway.
The conference will combine sessions with invited speakers and contributed sessions with presentations and discussions of original research papers in the fields of competition law and competition economics.
Time and date: 1st of June at 09:00 until 2nd of June at 16:00
Location: Faculty of Law, University of Bergen (Address: Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1)
Contact: For any questions, please contact the organising committee by using the following email address: local2023BECCLE@uib.no
Information about the conference
The BECCLE conference is open also for persons not presenting a paper, and there is no conference fee. Lunch will be served for all attendees. All presenters pay their own travel and accommodation expenses.
The program can be found HERE.
You find information about the transport to and from the airport HERE.
Note that there is an ICN (International Competition Network) Chief Economist Meeting in Bergen back-to-back with the BECCLE conference. It gathers chief economists and senior economists from competition agencies worldwide and leading academics to discuss competition policy issues. On the afternoon of Wednesday May 31 this meeting will be open to the public, and you are welcome to attend it. There will be two sessions open for the public, one session on buyer-side market power (academic lead: Nancy Rose) and one session on coordinated effects in mergers (academic lead: Nathan Miller). See the preliminary program for the open sessions HERE. We will keep you updated on our BECCLE Conference webpage on details. Although this is an opportunity for you to attend it, note that the BECCLE Conference starts Thursday morning.
Registration
Registration for the BECCLE Conference is now closed.
Registration for the ICN Meeting open for BECCLE participants is now closed.
The deadline for registration for the BECCLE Conference will be May 20, and for the ICN Chief Economist Meeting will be May 10.
Keynote speakers

Professor Natalia Fabra, Department of Economics at Universidad Carlos III Madrid: Reform in the European electricity market
Professor Heike Schweitzer, Faculty of Law at Humboldt University in Berlin: Ex ante vs ex post enforcement of competition law

Invited sessions

Competition Law & Economics and Sustainability (organized by Ignacio Herrera Anchustegui at Faculty of Law at University of Bergen)

Leigh Hancher (moderator), University of Tilburg
Cristina Volpin, OECD
Nicole Rosenboom, Oxera
Anna Gerbrandy, Utrecht University

Legal and Liability Standards in Antitrust Enforcement: Developments and Open Questions (organized by Yannis Katsoulacos at Athens University of Economics and Business)

Yannis Katsoulacos (moderator and speaker)
Anne Witt, EDHEC Augmented Law Institute
Frederic Jenny, ESSEC Paris Business School

Submissions of papers
The contributed sessions will include papers on all topics in the fields of competition law and competition economics, both theoretical and empirical, as well as case studies. Papers should be submitted as a pdf file to the e-mail address conference2023BECCLE@uib.no. The deadline for submission is expired (March 1, 2023). Authors of accepted papers was notified before April 1, 2023. All papers will be allocated a discussant, and presenters may be asked to discuss a paper.
You can download the BECCLE 2023 Call for Papers as a pdf file HERE.
Scientific committee

Lars Sørgard (NHH and BECCLE)
Tommy Staahl Gabrielsen (University of Bergen and BECCLE)
Ronny Gjendemsjø (University of Bergen and BECCLE)
Bjørn Olav Johansen (University of Bergen and BECCLE)
Özlem Bedre-Defolie (ESMT Berlin and U Bergen/BECCLE)
Frode Steen (NHH and BECCLE)
Ignacio Herrera Anchustegui (U Bergen and BECCLE)
Eeva Mauring (U Bergen and BECCLE)
Øivind Anti Nilsen (NHH and BECCLE)
Kurt Brekke (NHH and BECCLE)
Morten Sæthre (NHH and BECCLE)
Anantha Divakaruni (U Bergen and BECCLE)
Anna Ignatenko (NHH and BECCLE)
Thomas Vinje (Clifford Chance and U Bergen)
Tommaso Valletti (imperial College London and NHH/BECCLE)
Mateusz Mysliwski (NHH and BECCLE)
Teis Lunde Lømo (HVL and BECCLE)

Local organising committee

Emil Mathias Strøm Halseth (NHH)
Alina Ozhegova (NHH)
Marte Reisæter (U Bergen)
Øyvind Erstad Villanger (U Bergen)

Structural presumptions in merger control?
2023-06-14 10:00 - 12:00 | Auditorium 4, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Hordaland, 5010, Norway
There is a debate in both the US and Europe about the principles of merger control. One view is that we should move towards having more presumptions in merger reviews, and then move partly away from a pure effects-based approach. Tommasso Valletti is proposing such a shift in the procedures for merger control. He is professor in economics at Imperial College in London, adjunct professor at Norwegian School of Economics and BECCLE, and a former chief economist at DG COMP.
In this seminar he will present his view, where he argues that there should be more structural presumptions in merger control. Your can read about his view HERE. Three Norwegian experts on competition policy will comment on his talk:

Deputy Director Marita Skjæveland, Norwegian Competition Authority
Partner Beret Sundet, BAHR law firm
Partner Jostein Skaar, Oslo Economics

The seminar will be held:

Auditorium 4, Faculty of Law at University of Bergen
Wednesday June 14 at 10:00-11:45

You are welcome to attend the seminar physically. Note that it will also be streamed.
The seminar can be seen in replay here.
The slides can be seen here: Marita Skjæveland, Jostein Skaar, Tommaso Valletti

Norwegians oppkjøp av Widerøe
2023-09-21 14:30 - 16:00 | Hordaland
Norwegian har inngått avtale om å kjøpe Widerøe for litt over en milliard kroner. Oppkjøpet er meldt til Konkurransetilsynet og krever deres godkjennelse. Det er en konkret vurdering som vil avgjøre om Norwegian får ja til oppkjøpet. På dette seminaret vil vi foreta en prinsipiell diskusjon av de rettslige og økonomiske rammene for et eventuelt inngrep. Vi vil blant annet drøfte tidligere praksis i lignende saker, hvilken inngrepsterskel som skal legges til grunn i lys av rettspraksis (nå nylig CK Telecom dommen), og eventuelt hvilke avhjelpende tiltak som kan være aktuelle.
For å belyse saken både fra et rettslig og et økonomisk perspektiv, vil disse innlede på seminaret:

Professor Erling J. Hjelmeng, Universitetet i Oslo (og Norges Handelshøyskole)
Professor Lars Sørgard, Norges Handelshøyskole

Det vil bli åpning for spørsmål og kommentarer fra salen.
OPPTAK AV SEMINARET
Seminaret vil foregå:

Tid: Torsdag 21. september kl 14.30-16.00
Sted: Auditorium 4, Juridisk Fakultet, Universitet i Bergen

Seminaret vil være fysisk, men vil også bli strømmet. Link for digital deltagelse
Sørgards presentasjon
Hjelmengs presentasjon

The Digital Markets Act - what now?
2023-09-29 11:00 - 13:00 | Auditorium 4, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Hordaland, 5010, Norway
Friday September 29th there will be a BECCLE seminar with Thomas Kramler, head of the unit Digital Platforms III in the Competition Directorate General of the European Commission. Thomas will talk about the genesis of the DMA and its main features, with emphasis on the interplay with competition law. His unit is responsible for the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act and Articles 101 and 102 TFEU in relation to digital platforms. At the seminar Thomas will take us through the decisions directed at the platform services having been designated gatekeepers, and the upcoming compliance regime.

Thomas Kramler
Head of the unit Digital Platforms III in the Competition Directorate General of the European Commission. The unit is responsible for the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act and Articles 101 and 102 TFEU in relation to digital platforms. Before that, he was Head of the Digital Single Market Task Force responsible for the ecommerce sector inquiry. He holds a law degree and a PhD from the University of Vienna, Austria, and has graduated with a Master’s degree in European Community Law from the College of Europe (Bruges).
Previously Mr Kramler was deputy head of the unit responsible for antitrust cases in the information industries, internet and consumer electronics sectors. Before joining the European Commission Mr Kramler worked as agent representing the Austrian government before the European Courts in Luxembourg.
Link for digital participation
Mr. Kramlers presentation

Mot ein sterkare offentlegrettsleg administrativ handheving av konkurransereglane
2023-10-26 09:30 - 12:30 | Auditorium 3, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Norway
Innanfor konkurranseretten har det dei siste åra skjedd ei tildeling og forskyving av makt til administrative konkurransestyresmakter både overnasjonalt og nasjonalt i Europa. Gjennom ECN+ direktivet har den offentlege desentraliserte handhevinga i det administrative sporet blitt styrka, og gjennom regelverk slik som DMA har Kommisjonen utvida si sentraliserte handhevingsmyndigheit av digitale teneste. I Noreg er ingen av desse regelverka implementerte endå, men vi ser dei same tendensane gjennom debattane som går i desse dagar om blant anna handhevingsverktøy som marknadsetterforsking og personstraff.
Medan marknadsetterforskingsverktøyet gir Konkurransetilsynet vid myndigheit til å gripe inn i marknader utan at konkurranseforboda er brotne og sånn sett søkjer å rettleie marknader før konkurransesituasjonen forverrast, utgjer personstraff ein meir klassisk sanksjon som kjem inn etter at eit av forboda er brotne både for å straffe dei som har gjort urett og avskrekke andre frå å gjere same økonomiske kriminalitet. Gjennomgåande for desse regelverka er at forvaltninga inntek rollar som tradisjonelt ligg til påtalestyresmakter og domstolsapparatet. Dette reiser ei rekkje prinsipielle spørsmål om maktbalanse, kontrollmekanismar og retten til rettferdig rettargang, og kan få konsekvensar både for rettsutvikling, rettsavklaring og rettsvisse.
Innleggshaldarar er

Professor Jon Petter Rui, juridisk fakultet UiB

Tina Søreide, Konkurransedirektør

Elin Moen, partner i BAHR

Vibeke Andersen, avdelingsdirektør i Konkurranseseksjonen, i Avdeling for konkurransepolitikk og næringsøkonomi i Nærings- og fiskeridepartementet

Link for digital deltagelse
PROGRAM:
09:30-09:40: Velkomst og introduksjon – meir makt til forvaltninga, fordelar og ulemper? Velkomspresentasjonen
09:35-10:15: Jon Petter Rui presenterer funna i rapport om individuelle sanksjonar for brot på konkurranselova. Kva inneber det å flytte sanksjonar frå strafferettssporet til det administrative sporet? RAPPORTEN
10:15-10:45: Tina Søreide: Er det eit behov for personstraff og kvifor? Korleis kan handhevingsverktøy som marknadsetterforsking gjere konkurransen meir effektiv? Søreides presentasjon
10:45-11:00: Pause
11:00-11:30: Elin Moen: Korleis responderer aktørane i marknaden, og kva skjer når aktørars fokus skiftar frå forbod til compliance? Moens presentasjon
11:30-12:00: Vibeke Andersen: Er det behov for nye verkemiddel i konkurransepolitikken? Andersens presentasjon
12-12:30: Debatt og spørsmål frå salen. Enkel lunsjservering

Velkommen!

Cultural exception? The impact of fixed book price regulation on prices and variety
2023-11-21 12:15 - 13:30 | Room E209/E210, Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics, Helleveien 30, Bergen, Norway
On November 21 Tommaso Valletti, professor at Imperial College London and professor II at NHH/BECCLE will hold a seminar about regulation in the book market. A few years ago Italy allowed for fixed book prices, where publishers set prices in the book stores. In this seminar Tommaso Valletti will use a detailed data set to present evidence on how such a regulation affected book variety and prices.
This is a joint seminar with CBE (Center for Business Economics) at NHH.
The seminar will not be streamed.
Professor Valetti has co-authored an article on the subject. The abstract of the article is as following:
Fixed book price (FBP) agreements are a form of resale price maintenance commonly applied to books in various countries. FBP restricts retail price competition with the aim of promoting book production variety. Yet, despite its popularity and application in many countries, there is no empirical evidence on its effects. We offer systematic evidence on the impact of FBP on book variety and prices using a detailed new dataset from Italy that includes the universe of books published and bought, before and after the introduction of FBP. Our results indicate that FBP raises prices without significantly affecting the number of new books published in the marketplace. However, it also increases considerably the variety of books actually bought, especially from independent bookstores. We estimate a structural model of demand that accounts for both effects, finding that consumers overall benefited from the regulation
Place: Department of Economics at NHH, Room E209
Time: Tuesday November 21 at 12.15-13.30

Storage and Renewable Energies: Friends or Foe?
2023-11-29 12:15 - 15:30 | Room E209/E210, Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics, Helleveien 30, Bergen, Norway
On November 29 Natalia Fabra, professor at Universidad Carlos III and professor II at NHH/BECCLE, will hold a seminar about market power in the power market. In particular, she will focus on the challenge associated with investment in intermittent power production (wind and solar), and at the same time invest in storage of energy
This is a joint seminar with CBE (Center for Business Economics) at NHH.
You can read the paper HERE.
The seminar will not be streamed.

Det fremtidige norske kraftmarkedet
2024-01-30 13:00 - 15:30 | Auditorium 3, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Norway
Markedet for elektrisk kraft er i endring. Fossil brensel skal fases ut i Europa, og det er behov for mer fornybar kraft i både Europa og i Norge. Det er ulike syn på hvordan vi bør organisere denne sektoren fremover i Norge. Bør vi fortsatt bruke markedsmekanismen slik tilfellet er i dag, eller bør vi i større grad ha en politisk styring av denne sektorens omsetning? Bør vi som nasjon utnytte mulige gevinster ved handel, eller legge begrensninger på handelen med utlandet for å unngå prissmitte fra utlandet? Hva betyr den grønne omstillingen for behovet for økt produksjon av elektrisk kraft fremover?
En rekke rapporter og utredninger har de siste to årene drøftet ulike aspekter knyttet til det norske kraftmarkedet, herunder Energikommisjonens rapport som kom for nøyaktig ett år siden. I dette seminaret vil vi belyse noen av de aktuelle temaene i denne debatten:

Professor Nils-Henrik Mørch von der Fehr, Universitetet i Oslo: Rasjonalet for en markedsbasert omsetning
Professor Lars Sørgard, Norges Handelshøyskole (og leder av Energikommisjonen): Handel med utlandet – fordeler og ulemper
Viseadministrerende direktør Anniken Hauglie, NHO (og medlem av Energikommisjonen): Kraftmarkedet som driver for grønn omstilling og vekst
Professor Anders Skonhoft, NTNU (og medlem av Alternativ Energikommisjon): Behovet for politisk styring av kraftmarkedet

Etter innledende foredrag vil det være en paneldebatt mellom foredragsholderne ledet av Tor Arne Fanghol (permisjon fra Khrono, nå i Skatteetaten) . Det vil og bli åpnet for spørsmål om kommentarer fra salen.
Tid: Tirsdag 30. januar 2024 kl 13-15.30
Sted: Juridisk Fakultet, Universitetet i Bergen, Auditorium 3 (M. Lagabøtes gate 1)
Seminaret er fysisk, men vil i tillegg bli strømmet. LINK til stream

Informasjonsutveksling som ei føremålsovertreding. Bokdatabase-saka under lupa.
2024-03-21 12:30 - 14:00 | Auditorium 4, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Hordaland, 5010, Norway
BECCLE inviterer til seminar om Bokdatabase-saka, og korleis saka er med på å klarleggje grensene for når informasjonsutveksling om pris utgjer ei føremålsovertreding etter konkurranselova § 10. Sentralt i denne saka var spørsmålet om det dreia seg om informasjon om framtidige eller noverande prisar, og tilgjengelegheita av denne informasjonen.

Innleggshaldarar er:
Juridisk direktør hos Konkurransetilsynet, Karin Stakkestad Laastad,

og
Partnar i Wikborg Rein, Preben Milde Thorbjørnsen.

Etter innlegga blir det høve til å stille faglege spørsmål og diskusjon.

Link for livestream

Cartel Policy in Nordic Countries
2024-05-30 08:00 - 17:00 | Hordaland
Enforcement of laws prohibiting cartels is a fundamental part of antitrust policy in most countries. This has also been
the case in the Nordic countries for several decades. Although the Nordic countries’ antitrust enforcement is
harmonized with EU competition law, the enforcement systems have until recently varied quite a lot from country to
country in the Nordic region.
In this seminar we will discuss the design of better cartel policies and, in particular, how various elements
complement each other to lead to more effective policies. Beginning with a general discussion of cartel policy design,
we will then explain and discuss the legal enforcement systems in the four largest Nordic countries of Norway,
Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, emphasizing similarities, but even more so how they differ. Next, the legal cartels
that existed before 2000 will be contrasted with the illegal cartels that have been detected by competition
authorities during the last two decades. We will also review and discuss recent changes in Swedish cartel policy.
Finally, recent challenges for cartel enforcement will be discussed with a focus on the rise in the role of algorithms.
DETAILED PROGRAM
Speakers presentations:
Joseph Harrington, Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at The Wharton School, University of
Pennsylvania, Design of optimal cartel policy
Ingrid M. H. Barlund, Associate professor of Law, University of Bergen, Cartel enforcement within the Nordic countries – shared experiences and new insights
Frode Steen,Professor of Economics at Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics, Legal Cartels in Nordic Countries Before 2000
Lars Sørgard, Professor of Economics at Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics, Illegal cartels in Nordic countries after 2000
Lars Henriksson, Professor of Law, Stockholm School of Economics, Cartel enforcement in Sweden – recent experiences

BECCLE Competition Policy Conference 2024
2024-05-30 08:00 - 2024-05-31 17:00 | Hordaland
Bergen Center for Competition Law and Economics (BECCLE) is pleased to announce the eighth annual BECCLE conference on competition policy on May 30-31 2024 in Bergen, Norway.
This year, the conference will take place at the Norwegian School of Economics. The conference combines invited sessions with accomplished speakers and open sessions with presentations and discussions of original research papers in the fields of competition law and competition economics.
For the open sessions, we now invite submissions of original research papers. Papers should be in the field of competition law and economics. We welcome both theoretical and empirical papers, as well as case studies. Lawyers are especially encouraged to submit papers (working papers or published papers) or extended abstracts.
Time and date: 30th of May at 09:00 until 31st of May at 16:00
Location: Norwegian School of Economics, Helleveien 30
Contact: For any questions, please contact the organizing committee by using the following email address: beccle@nhh.no
There is a seminar on Cartel Policy in Nordic Countries back-to-back with the BECCLE Conference. It will be held on Norwegian School of Economics May 29 at 12.30-16.30. You are all welcome to attend, and there is no registration. For more information, see HERE.
Information about the BECCLE conference May 30-31
The BECCLE conference is open also for persons not presenting a paper. There is no conference fee. We offer lunch free of charge to all attendees. We also offer a conference dinner (free of charge) to all presenters.
Update on the program, registration etc. will be published on this web page.
The final program you can find HERE.
You find information about the transport to and from the airport, as well as from the city center to Norwegian School of Economics, HERE.
Registration for attending the BECCLE Conference
You can register for attending the BECCLE conference HERE. The DEADLINE for registration is now closed.
Keynote speakers

Frank Verboven, University of Leuven: ‘Coordinated entry and competition policy’
Thibault Schrepel, Vrije University of Amsterdam: ‘How technical knowledge can and should inform antitrust analysis’.

Invited sessions
In addition, there will be four invited sessions with three invited speakers on each session:

Merger policy:

Tina Søreide (moderator) (Norwegian Competition Authority)
Tommaso Valletti (Imperial College London and BECCLE/NHH))
Aviv Nevo (FTC and Univ Pennsylvania)
Hans Zenger (European Commission)

The future of Article 102:

Thomas Vinje (chair) (Clifford Chance and BECCLE/UiB))
Massimiliano Kadar (Deputy Head of Unit ‘Antitrust Telecoms’, DG COMP, the European Commission)
Tommaso Valletti (Imperical College London and NHH/BECCLE) (replacing Oliver Bethell on short notice)
Christian Bergqvist (Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen)

Market design in power markets:

Natalia Fabra (chair) (Universidad Carlos III and BECCLE/NHH)
Bert Willems (Tilburg University)
Matti Liski (Aalto University School of Business)

Competition Policy and Labour Markets – are National Competition Authorities on Point?

Hans-Petter H. Hanson (chair), Chief Economist, the Norwegian Competition Authority
Marta Rocha (TBC), Acting Chief Economist, Autoridade de Concorrência (Portugal)
Jacob Schneebacher, Assistent Director of Econometrics, Competition and Markets Authority (United Kingdom)
Alexander LP Willén, Professor, Norwegian School of Economics

Submissions of papers
Papers should be submitted as a pdf-file to beccle.papers@nhh.no, no later than February 1, 2024. Submissions should include title, abstract (up to 200 words), author’s name(s) and affiliations, and contact details. Submissions of full papers are recommended, but we will also accept extended abstracts.
Authors of accepted papers will be notified no later than March 10, 2024. All papers will be allocated a discussant, and presenters may be asked to discuss a paper.
You can download the BECCLE 2024 Call for Papers as a pdf file HERE.
Scientific committee

Özlem Bedre-Defolie (European University)
Natalia Fabra (Universidad Carlos III)
Tommaso Valletti (Imperial College London)
Frode Steen (NHH)
Tommy Staahl Gabrielsen (U Bergen)
Ronny Gjendemsjø (U Bergen)
Ignacio Herrera Anchustegui (U Bergen)
Bjørn Olav Johansen (U Bergen)
Eeva Mauring (U Bergen)
Lars Sørgard (NHH)
Kurt Brekke (NHH)
Øivind Anti NIlsen (NHH)
Ingrid Margrethe Halvorsen Barlund (U Bergen)
Thomas Vinje (U Bergen)
Morten Sæthre (NHH)
Mateusz Mysliwski (NHH)
Anantha Divakaruni (NHH)
Odd Rune Straume (U Minho)
Teis Lunde Lømo (HVL)

Local organising committee

Paula Navarro Sarmiento (NHH)
Ole Kristian Dyskeland (NHH)
John Lilletvedt (U Bergen)
Camilla Hopsdal (NHH)

Seminar om arbeidsmarkedet og fusjonskontrollen
2024-10-03 14:00 - 15:45 | Hordaland
De siste årene har det internasjonalt blitt mer fokus på konkurransepolitiske inngrep i arbeidsmarkedet. Både i Europa og USA har det blitt grepet inn mot tilfeller der arbeidsgivere blir enige om å ikke konkurrere om arbeidskraften (‘no poaching’ avtaler). De nye retningslinjene for fusjonskontroll i USA er tydelige på at det kan gripes inn mot fusjoner og oppkjøp som er skadelige for arbeidstakerne. Spørsmålet vi stiller på dette seminaret er hvorvidt en i Europa, og ikke minst i Norge, bør og kan fokusere mer på arbeidsmarkedet i fusjonskontrollen. Er det særskilte forhold i Norge som gjør det mindre aktuelt med et slikt fokus her? Hvordan skal en evt avveie hensyn til sluttbrukerne og hensynet til arbeidstakerne? Er det mulig innenfor dagens regelverk å gripe inn på tilsvarende måte som det som skisseres i de amerikanske retningslinjene for fusjonskontroll?
Professor Lars Sørgard fra Norges Handelshøyskole og BECCLE og professor Ronny Gjendemsjø fra Universitetet i Bergen og BECCLE vil innlede med å belyse problemstillingen fra henholdsvis et økonomisk og juridisk perspektiv. Deretter vil sjeføkonom Hans-Petter Hanson i Konkurransetilsynet og partner Beret Sundet i advokatfirmaet BAHR gi sine kommentarer, etterfulgt av en diskusjon mellom de fire. Det vil også bli åpnet for spørsmål og kommentarer fra salen. Møteleder vil være førsteamanuensis Ingrid Barlund fra Universitetet i Bergen.
Følg linkene nedenfor for å laste ned Powerpoint-presentasjonene til seminarets deltakere:

Lars Sørgard – Arbeidsmarkedet og fusjonskontrollen
Ronny Gjendemsjø – Fusjonskontroll og arbeidsmarkedet
Beret Sundet – Arbeidsmarkedet og fusjonskontrollen
Hans-Petter Håvås Hansson (oppdateres etterhvert)

Google Shopping: The Final Word from the Court of Justice - Consequences for the Future of Article 102
2024-11-12 10:15 | Auditorium 3, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Norway
Copyright: Google LLC
In September 2024, the European Court of Justice upheld the European Commission’s decision finding that Google had abused its dominant position in online search markets by favoring its own shopping service over those of its competitors in its general search results. The judgment addressed several of the most contested issues regarding the meaning of Article 102 and its enforcement.
Thomas Vinje will discuss the recent judgment and its meaning for the application of Article 102. Thomas represented the international trade association FairSearch in this case before the European Commission and the original complainant in the case (Foundem) before the European General Court and the Court of Justice. For a comprehensive overview of Thomas Vinje’s biography, please follow the link.

Our seminar will focus on the key issues resolved in the judgment, including the following:

When does a dominant company’s favouring of its own products or services constitute an abuse under Article 102? Does the Google Shopping judgment mean that a dominant company may never favour its own products or services?
What are the limits of the Bronner doctrine on refusals to supply?
What constitutes conduct by a dominant company that is not “on the merits” (which is one of the two basic criteria in determining whether a dominant company has infringed Article 102)? What factors may the Commission take into account in assessing whether conduct falls outside “competition on the merits”?
What must the Commission do to establish a causal link between the practices at issue and the alleged effects thereof? In particular, must the Commission in all cases undertake a counterfactual analysis to show how the market would have developed absent the conduct?
Is there any general requirement in Article 102 cases for the Commission to prove that the relevant conduct would exclude as-efficient competitors?
Finally, what implications does the Google Shopping judgment have for the Draft Guidelines on the Application of Article 102 recently published by the European Commission? More generally, we expect to discuss whether the Commission has adopted a valid approach to Article 102 case law in its draft Guidelines

Professor Ronny Gjendemsjø will be chairing the event.
Time and place:
University of Bergen, Faculty of Law
Tuesday November 12 10:15-12:00, Auditorium 3

To watch the recording of this lecture, please follow the link.

The Draghi Report and the future of Competition Policy and State Aid in Europe
2024-12-05 12:00 - 13:30 | Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes Plass 1, Bergen, 5010, Norway
Copyright: European Commission
The Draghi Report was submitted to the European Commission in September this year, and it is an important input for the commission’s future work on competitiveness for Europe. Competition Policy is one of the issues discussed in the report. Although the report in general is in favor of an active and strict competition policy, there are some proposals that would lead to a less strict competition policy. In particular, the focus on firm scale – having large European firms to compete against foreign firms – will de facto lead to a less strict merger control. In the report the telecom sector is mentioned as one sector where scale in Europe is too limited, and where it is a need for mergers and acquisitions between European firms.

In this seminar, Tommaso Valletti will comment on the proposals in the Draghi report, generally about competition policy and state aid and in particular on merger control and the telecom sector. Valletti is professor at Imperial College London and adjunct professor at Norwegian School of Economics and BECCLE. He has for three years served as the chief economist in European Commission (Directorate General for Competition).
There will be time for comments and questions from the audience.
Date and Time: Thursday, December 5, from 12:00 to 13:30
Location: The Library, 5th Floor, Faculty of Law, University of Bergen
We look forward to your participation. For those unable to attend in person, the seminar will be streamed live via Zoom. Please follow this link to join us.

Seminar: Misbruk av dominans og ytelsesbasert konkurranse
2025-02-20 14:30 - 16:00 | Hordaland
Copyright: Eurac Research
EU-kommisjonen har kommet med utkast til retningslinjer for misbruk av dominans (artikkel 102 i TFEU). Dette utkastet er av mange blitt tolket som at EU-kommisjonen nå i mindre grad enn det som fremkommer i deres veiledningsnotat (‘guidance paper’) fra 2008 vil basere seg på en effekt-basert analyse når de skal avgjøre om det dominerende firma sin adferd er lovstridig. Det er for eksempel satt opp to vilkår for at det skal være misbruk, der ett av dem er at det ikke er ytelsesbasert konkurranse (competition on the merits). I dette seminaret vil det bli drøftet hvordan vilkåret for å konstatere misbruk skal forstås, herunder om utkastet til retningslinjer sin definisjon er i tråd med rettspraksis.
Innledere vil være professor Erling Hjelmeng fra Universitet i Oslo og professor Ronny Gjendemsjø fra Universitet i Bergen, og seminaret vil bli ledet av professor Lars Sørgard ved Norges Handelshøyskole.
Tema: Misbruk av dominans og ytelsesbasert konkurranse
Innledere: Professor Ronny Gjendemsjø, Universitetet i Bergen og Erling J. Hjelmeng, Universitetet i Oslo.
Sted: Biblioteket, Juridisk Fakultet, Universitetet i Bergen
Når: Torsdag 20. februar kl 14.30-16.00
Powerpoint-presentasjoner fra seminaret:
Ronny Gjendemsjø:
BECCLE seminar ytelsesbasert konkurranse
Erling J. Hjelmeng:
Comp on the merits 200225

DG Comp from the inside
2025-03-19 10:15 - 12:00 | Auditorium 3, Det juridiske fakultet, UiB, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1, Bergen, Norway
Copyright: APCO Worldwide
Cecilio has over three decades of experience as an antitrust enforcer and regulator at the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission. In conversation with Madero, he will take us behind the scenes of how a competition law case is processed at the DG Comp.
Cecilio Madero Villarejo is senior counsel at APCO Worldwide since March 2023. He has over three decades of experience as an antitrust enforcer and regulator at the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission.
The seminar will be a joint BECCLE-seminar and LLM-event.

Nordic Academic Network Conference in Competition Law, June 4-6, 2025
2025-06-04 - 2025-06-06 | Hordaland

BECCLE Competition Policy Conference 2025
2025-06-05 08:00 - 2025-06-06 17:00 | Hordaland
Bergen Center for Competition Law and Economics (BECCLE) is pleased to announce the ninth annual conference on competition policy on 5-6 June 2025 in Bergen, Norway. This year, the conference will take place at the Faculty of Law, University of Bergen.
Conference Registration is closed.
The conference will combine sessions with invited speakers with presentations and discussions of original research papers in the fields of competition law and competition economics.
For the open sessions at the BECCLE conference, we invited submissions of original research papers, with a deadline February 1. All papers will be allocated a discussant, and presenters may be asked to discuss a paper. Submission of papers is closed
The program you will find HERE
Keynote speakers and invited sessions
There will be two keynote speakers:

Professor Fiona Scott Morton,Yale School of Management: ‘Competition Enforcement and Ex Ante Regulation: Complements or Substitutes?’
Professor Herbert Hovenkamp,University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and the Wharton School: ‘Consumer Welfare as a Policy Directive’

In addition, there will be three invited sessions on the following topics:
Draft guidelines for Article 102
Chair: Thomas Vinje, Clifford Chance and BECCLE
Anne-Christine Witt, ECHEC Business School
Massimiliano Kadar, European Commission
Jorge Padilla, Compass Lexecon
Private Enforcement in Digital Markets
Chair: Ronny Gjendemsjø, BECCLE and Faculty of Law at University of Bergen
Gjermund Mathisen, Kvale Law Firm
Magnus Strand, Uppsala University
Helene Andersson, Delphi Law Firm
The Labour Market and Merger Control
Chair: Tommaso Valletti, BECCLE and Imperial College London
Miriam Larson-Koester, Federal trade Commission (FTC)
Axel Gottfries, University of Edinburgh
Lars Sørgard, BECCLE and Norwegian School of Economics
Transportation to and from the airport
There are multiple ways to get to the city center from the airport. The cheapest option is the Bergen Light Rail which can be paid for through an app or by buying a ticket from a ticket machine at the station.
A slightly faster option is the Airport Bus. Both the light rail and bus stop in the city center, close to Scandic Hotel Byparken.
Additional information
There is no conference fee. We offer lunch free of charge to all attendees. We also offer a conference dinner (free of charge) to all presenters. For updates on the conference, please revisit this website leading up to the conference. Information about the program, registration, and other practical information will be published here.
Time and location of the event
The event will take place at the Faculty of Law, University of Bergen, 5-6 June 2025
Address: Magnus Lagabøtes Plass 1
Contact
Please use the email address localbeccle@uib.no if you have questions.
Scientific Committee

Tommaso Valletti (Imperial College London)
Frode Steen (NHH)
Tommy Staahl Gabrielsen (U Bergen)
Ronny Gjendemsjø (U Bergen)
Ignacio Herrera Anchustegui (U Bergen)
Bjørn Olav Johansen (U Bergen)
Eeva Mauring (U Bergen)
Lars Sørgard (NHH)
Ingrid Margrethe Halvorsen Barlund (U Bergen)
Thomas Vinje (U Bergen)
Mateusz Mysliwski (NHH)
Morten Sæthre (NHH)
Teis Lunde Lømo (HVL)
Tove Forsbacka (NHH)
Oscar Jara (NHH)

Local Organizing Committee

Elias Dahlberg
John Lilletvedt
Aurora Paulsen
Paula Navarro
Karianne Frønsdal

For program for earlier years, see HERE.
