Co-operation between the Swiss Competition authorities and other Competition authorities concerning concentration activities

1
Co-operation between the Swiss Competition
authorities and other Competition authorities
concerning concentration activities

• Presented by
• Dr. Patrick Krauskopf
• Vice-director of the Secretariat of the
  Competition Commission

2
Structure of the panel

1. Introduction
2. Existing legal basis for co-operation on
   competition matters
3. Necessity of enhanced formal co-operation between
   Switzerland and its trading partners
4. Concluding remarks

3
Introduction

• Tasks and aims of the Swiss competition
  authorities
• Specific features of Switzerland
• The geographical location
• The Swiss economy in comparison to the world
  economy
• Big companies located in Switzerland

4
Task and aims of the competition authorities

• The Competition Commission (Comco)
• Takes decisions
• Addresses recommendations and reports
• Renders opinions

• The Secretariat
• Examines
• Prepares decisions
• Gives legal advice
• Observes markets
• Collects information
• Is responsible for contacts with other
  authorities

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Figure 1 Growth of headquarters transfers to
Switzerland (1990-2001) Figure 2
Transfers of global headquarters by country of
origin in
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Existing legal basis for co-operation on
competition matters

• No specific agreement on co-operation on
  concentration activities with other authorities
• OECD Recommendations
• Recommendation on co-operation between antitrust
  authorities
• Recommendation on co-operation against hard-core
  cartels
• Bilateral agreement on air transport between
  Switzerland and EU

9
OECD Recommendations

• Recommendation on co-operation between antitrust
  authorities
• 1986, revised in 1995
• basic tools for co-operation notification of
  cases, exchange of information, co-ordination of
  action, consultation, conciliation
• Non-binding
• Recommendation on co-operation against hard-core
  cartels
• 1998
• Particular forms of co-operation positive
  comity, document sharing
• Non-binding

10
Bilateral agreement on air Transport

• Between the EU and Switzerland
• 06/01/2002
• Reciprocal liberalization of air traffic rights
• EU competition rules are also applied in
  Switzerland by the EU Commission.
• Switzerland remains competent concerning state
  aids.
• Cooperation for enforcement and procedural
  measures.

11
Necessity of enhanced co-operation between the
Switzerland and its trading partners (EU/US/D/F)

• Economical context an increasing globalized
  economy
• Swiss cases of recent concentration activities
  with international dimensions
• Report

12
Economical context an increasing globalized
economy

• Liberalization of the economy
• Increasing inter-dependence between the different
  countries
• Competition on a worldwide scale
• Growth rate of international cross-border company
  mergers
• Necessity of co-operation

13
Swiss cases of recentconcentration activities
with international dimensions

• ErnstYoung / Arthur Andersen
• BP/E.On
• IBM/PwC Consulting
• GE/Honeywell

14
Report

• Co-operation is highly effective but
  insufficiently ruled out
• Lack of certainty for the parties
• Lack of certainty for the authorities
• Foreclosure effects in the world market
• Remedies
• Bilateral contacts
• General exchange of staff and experience
• Case by case intensive co-operation on the basis
  of waivers
• Unilateral measures procedural simplification
  for international mergers with insignificant
  effects on the Swiss market

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Concluding remarks

• Existing practices are still unsatisfactory
• Need to set forth a formal legal framework in the
  form of bi- or multilateral co-operation
  agreements with the following objectives
• Provide better knowledge of the different
  competition policies
• Promote a convergent approach towards methodical
  issues
• Reduce burdens on merging parties
• Reduce the inefficiencies of overlapping
  investigations