Brazil proposes initiatives to strengthen the International Competition Network (ICN)

Vinicius Marques de Carvalho, President of the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), presented a proposal for an overarching framework for the implementation agenda of the International Competition Network (ICN). The ICN is made up of 130 competition agencies from over 100 jurisdictions. The Brazilian proposal was presented during the 13th ICN Annual Conference, held in Marrakech, on the 22nd to 25th of April.
 
The proposal has with three main initiatives. The first initiative proposed is to raise awareness and improve access to ICN work products, which currently includes over 100 documents, such as recommended practices and practical manuals, in addition to a virtual competition university. These work products are the result of the exchange of experience between competition agencies in the fields of antitrust enforcement, merger review and competition advocacy, as well as the effectiveness of competition agencies.
 
The second proposed initiative is to promote self-assessment and ICN-wide means of effective implementation on the working group level. Finally, the third proposition is to reinforce the framework for technical assistance within the ICN.
 
The President of CADE highlighted that the implementation of ICN work products is relevant for the whole ICN membership, composed of bothyounger and more mature, larger and smaller competition agencies, rich in diversity of context, be it economic, legal, social or political.
 
“For over a decade, ICN members and the non-governmental advisors (NGAs), who actively contribute to the network, have worked together in the creation of a rich, diverse, consensus-based catalogue of work products, developed from exchanges of best international practice in competition advocacy and enforcement.”
 
CADE’s proposals will be discussed within the Steering Group of the ICN, before being implemented within the organization.
 
The 2014 ICN Annual Conference hosted 520 participants from 90 jurisdictions and was the first conference following the appointment of President Vinicius Marques de Carvalho as Vice-Chair of the organization, last October. Since then, CADE has taken up the coordination of the ICN’s agenda for implementation of work products and other initiatives of the organization