The TC Beirne School of Law will host an international symposium on competition law ‘Cartels, Optimal Enforcement and Theories in Competition Law’ in Brisbane on 27 March 2018.
Cartels are pursued by the two actors, the competition agencies and private claimants, for different reasons. The former, the competition agencies, wish to impose sanctions and increase deterrence in the system, by not only punishing the offenders involved by way of specific deterrence, but also by creating wider deterrence in the system, i.e. by deterring other companies from breaching the law, and thus increasing overall consumer welfare in the system. The consumers or claimants are primarily motivated by a desire to obtain corrective justice or, at a minimum, some form of compensation from the cartelists, which have charged them higher prices.
Given that motivations differ, it is perhaps inevitable that there can be tensions whenever these two actors or groups of actors come together on the cartel enforcement stage. It has already been well documented that there are a number of features of the one enforcement sphere that may impede the success of enforcement actions in the other. (Laura Guttuso †2016, Confirmation of PhD candidature document, p. 4-5)
The symposium will explore, among other things, the following questions:
How can the tensions at the interface between public and private cartel enforcement be minimised? Do these two enforcement spheres necessarily have to work separately from, and hence often potentially against each other, with the consequent risk of inconsistencies and interferences between the two, or can they be more optimally co-ordinated to form a more coherent whole? What could a more optimal equilibrium between the two, the public and the private enforcement sphere, look like? (Laura Guttuso †2016, Confirmation of PhD candidature document, p. 10)
This event commemorates the research conducted by Laura Guttuso a former, outstanding TC Beirne School of Law PhD candidate, who died before completing her PhD thesis. The papers presented will address important elements of, and further develop new ideas contained in, Laura’s unfinished PhD thesis entitled ‘In Pursuit of cartels – a critical analysis of the dynamics between public and private enforcement’.
Read more about ‘Cartels, Optimal Enforcement and Theories in Competition Law’.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) may be applicable.
Speakers
The speakers of this event will discuss the relevant issues of corporate accountability to infringements of competition law, in particular, anti-cartel law, its effective enforcement, establishing justice and fairness in that regard and optimising private and public enforcement by addressing and balancing corporate and individual accountability and deterrence on one hand, and achieving corrective justice and sufficiently recognising harm suffered from cartels by consumers and other victims on the other.
Register today
Registration options include:
Practitioners
Early bird (before 9 February): $550
General (after 9 February): $700
Academia and students
Early bird (before 9 February): $250
General (after 9 February): $350
Cancellation policy
Registrations may be cancelled up to 28 February 2018 for a refund of registration fees, minus a $50 processing fee. Please contact events@law.uq.edu.au. Cancellation requests received after 28 February 2018 will forfeit the full money paid.
Transfer of attendee registration is available until 16 March 2018, please contact events@law.uq.edu.au.
