Workshop on Comparative Competition Law Within ASEAN, 9 October 2017, Singapore

This is a By-Invitation-Only event.

Date: 9 October 2017

 Venue: NUS Centre for International Law

 About the Workshop

The Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore hosted a workshop on comparative competition law within ASEAN. The workshop sought to exploit the commitment by ASEAN to the development of a compendium of national competition laws in 2017 by examining, first, what common principles and processes inform national competition laws, the level of convergence and the level of divergence. We also intended to explore features of competition law in ASEAN Member States that may be distinct from competition regimes in other parts of the world. We had finally, hoped to consider the role of peer review in the development of national competition laws. A key objective of the workshop is to promote dialogue between the ASEAN Member States and mutual understanding on the issue of competition enforcement. As such, the workshop planned to examine the following: first, the distinctive features of member states’ competition regimes or plans therefor, second, the enforcement priorities of each member state (the practices and sectors they focus on for enforcement) and lastly, the possibilities or constraints of peer review between the ASEAN Member States. Pursuant to this objective, speakers and participants at the workshop discussed the substantive legal provisions, institutional frameworks and key enforcement statistics of the competition regimes in several ASEAN member states. The speakers also elaborated on the challenges that these national competition authorities face and the relationship between these authorities and sectoral regulators. In addition, a speaker provided a comparative perspective from the EU. Specifically, he explained and critically analysed the system of cooperation between National Competition Authorities and the European Union entities. Then, he discussed several lessons that ASEAN might draw from the EU experience. Also discussed were emerging trends in the new economy, such as e-commerce and concomitant disruptive technologies, and their implications for competition law and policy. Covered partly within this context was regional cooperation efforts, namely, the ASEAN Experts Group on Competition and its present and future work.

Enquiries: Please email Ms Gloria Loo (cilljxg@nus.edu.sg)