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Barbara Schulze Bundeskartellamt International Competition Matters ICN Cartel Workshop Cape Town Mini Plenary IV – Information Sharing: Barriers, Waives and Challenges, Cape Town, 17 October 2013
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17 October 2013 Overview I. Cooperation and information sharing is a bilateral exercise - Knowing each other is key. II. Legal frameworks – barriers to information sharing III. Ways to overcome these barriers IV. Challenges to cooperation V. Case example: The Mills Case (DE, F, NL) VI. Informal exchange of information
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17 October 2013 I.1 Who am “I” - The Bundeskartellamt Institutional design President, Vice-President General Policy Division, International Unit Litigation Department, Specialised Unit 12 Decision Divisions (3 specialized on cartels) Independent bodies, decisions taken by Head of division + 2 Rapporteurs by majority vote (court like structure) Bundeskartellamt budget: € 25 Mio. Around 320 employees (140 legal experts/economists)
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17 October 2013 The Bundeskartellamt - Organisation
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17 October 2013 Art. 101 and 102 TFEU, EU-Regulations and Guidelines Act against Restraints of Competition (enacted1958, 8 th Amendment of 30 June, 2013) Administrative regulations of the Bundeskartellamt i.e. leniency programme, guidelines on the setting of fines Administrative Offences Act Code of Criminal Procedure The Bundeskartellamt’s legal framework
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CARTEL CASES 2012: Number of leniency applications: 51 Number of dawn raids: 8 + 5 for the European Commission + 1 for competition agencies of other EU Member States Number of cartel cases closed: 21 Total fines: € 316 million BKArtA-Enforcement Activities - Cartels 17 October 2013
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Recent cases – recent experience Price fixing of coffee roasters: working group of directors and sales managers of different coffee roasters coordinated price increases for roasted coffee in the out-of-house market (supply of gastronomy, hotels, …) Agreements on quotas for fire engines: companies' sales managers of two producers of fire engines with turntable ladders (combined market share of nearly 100%) divided tenders among each other on the basis of project lists to divide the market up in a ratio of 50/50 Territorial agreements between liquefied gas suppliers: suppliers agreed not to poach customers from one another. Customers wishing to switch supplier were either not quoted a price, or if at all, an excessive “deterrent price”. Enforcement Activities - Cartels 17 October 2013
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NATIONAL: Regional Cartel Authorities (16 “Länder”) Ministry of Economics (not in cartel cases) EUROPE: European Commission European Competition Network (ECN) I.2 Who is the other?- Cooperation with other agencies (1)
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INTERNATIONAL: International Competition Network (ICN) Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Bilateral cooperation – special: USA, Switzerland Cooperation with other agencies (2) 17 October 2013
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Legal barriers Confidentiality Professional secrecy Data protection Other Factual barriers Different legal systems and cultures Language barriers Resources (you just cannot do it) II. Barriers to information sharing 17 October 2013
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ECN Information exchange for network purposes Information exchange for use in evidence National information gateways Available in several countries Germany: Sec. 50 b ARC Bilateral Treaties Gemany-USA; EU-Switzerland Waivers III. Overcoming the barriers 17 October 2013
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Legal – even within the ECN remaining uncertainties about certain grey zones (eg do double standards apply or those of transmitting agency) Personal – resources, languages, time zones, different instutional set-up, mutal trust, in particular in view of past experience, Factual – effects of cooperation or non-cooperation on strategies of leniency applications and defendants IV. Challenges 17 October 2013
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Cartel proceedings in DE, FR and NL against the milling industry – common legal framework on substance, but national procedures. Leniency applications in each country, coordination of course of investigation, in particular the setting of fines. But: difficulties to coordinate timing in view of national constraints and different institutional organisation. Fined behaviour different in each country, no ibis in idem but: Financial limitations of defendants, inability to pay. V. Case Example: the mills case 17 October 2013
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Informal exchanges can get already help Keeping in mind that definition of confidential might differ OECD started work on definitions – asked members to provide information on their legal framework Exchange views on theories of harm, share publicly available information on cases, markets, else Provide information on timing Limitations VI. Informal information exchange 17 October 2013
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Thank you! For further information : http://www.bundeskartellamt.de/wEnglisch/index.php http://www.bundeskartellamt.de/wDeutsch/download/pdf/Merkblaetter/Merkblaetter_englisch/I CN_Anti-Cartel_Enforcement_Template_2013.pdf Barbara Schulze Head of Unit International Competition Matters Bundeskartellamt Kaiser-Friedrich-Str. 16 D-53113 Bonn Tel: +49 (0) 228 / 94 99 - 240 Fax: +49 (0) 228 / 94 99 - 144 E-Mail: barbara.schulze@bundeskartellamt.bund.de Internet: www.bundeskartellamt.de
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