On 12 and 13 September, in Vilnius, Lithuania, the 20th Baltic Competition Conference was held. In this year’s conference, amongst the relevant competition law enforcement issues, special attention was paid to competition in digital markets, as well as challenges of the competition law related to the activities of market players among associations and societies.
Welcoming the participants of the conference, Jolanta Ivanauskienė, Chairwoman of the Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania, welcomed the 20-year tradition of bringing together experts from the competition authorities of all Baltic states, as well as representatives from other sectors to discuss the most important issues of competition law and policy relevant to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and to the international community.
This year’s conference focused on novelties of the competition authorities regarding the merger control of the companies, as well as issues related to discovering dominant positions and anti-competitive agreements, with a particular focus on competition in digital markets and fraudulent activities by associations and their members.
Ēriks Kristiāns Selga, Competition Council Member: “We are happy that the 20-year-long tradition – for the Baltic competition authorities to meet at least once a year – has maintained its quality and effectiveness, bringing together competition law experts of the local and international scale and seeking a common approach to solving relevant competition problems. The conference is an excellent platform for the guardians of the competition sector in the Baltics to collect best practices and adopt the most successful solutions for the future, especially in the area of supervision of associations and digital markets, which received special attention at this year’s conference.”
To highlight the Digital Markets Act and its relevance for the Baltics, Michael Koenig, Head of Unit, Digital Platforms II, DG Competition, European commission, and Ori Schwartz, Head of the Competition Division, OECD, participated in the conference discussion on the development of digital markets, noting that changes in digital markets are happening so fast that the business development process resembles a race, where the speed at which market players are able to adapt to changes and find innovative solutions plays a key role.
The regional Baltic Competition Conference is organised once every three years by one of the three Baltic states. The aim of the conference is to exchange information and experience and to strengthen cooperation between the countries involved, ensuring increasingly effective infringement investigations and market surveillance. The event is organised in both a general discussion format and in separate expert working groups on merger control, anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant positions, digital markets and other topics.