The Amsterdam Center for Law & Economics (ACLE) at the University of Amsterdam organizes its fourth annual Competition & Regulation Meeting. The topic of this year's workshop is:

EC Competition Enforcement Data

April 10-11, 2008
Universiteit van Amsterdam
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Introduction to the Topic

Several on-going research projects study the enforcement activities of the European Commission on Competition. These studies include quantitative analyses of antitrust complaints, cartel infringements and merger decisions, trends in fines, and rescuing and restructuring State aids. The projects are often based on data sets that were collected by individual researchers from public sources such as the Official Journal publications of the EC. Gradually, papers reporting on findings are coming out now.

The aim of this workshop is to bring scholars working in this specialty area together in an intimate setting to discuss each others work. Apart from interesting findings, various ways in which to interpret them, and further research questions and hypotheses that could be put to the data, topics to discuss in this workshop include potential issues with the quality of the data. After all, what we observe - with few exceptions - is the output of the EC: cases that led to a successful formal decision. We have no good and systematic way of knowing the total input of complaints, Commission suspicions or leniency applications out of which these eventual decisions were selected for production. Even less do we know about the entire population of competition law violations out there, from which the Commission's input - and therefore certainly their output - is likely to be a systematically biased sample.

An Intimate C&R Meeting

The workshop will be small-scale. Therefore, participation will be on invitation only. The objective is to freely discuss work in progress and brainstorm about possible directions in which to further research. We have already involved a number of leading scholars in the Academic Program Committee. This call for papers is meant to solicit further submissions of work (in progress) by others (including PhD students) active in this area.

We will use the response to this call to produce a two-day program of invited papers. There will be ample opportunity to present and discuss. Each paper will be assigned a discussant. There will also be opportunity to work individually or in small groups on specific issues. Furthermore, we intend to invite several experts, including experienced senior competition lawyers and Commission officials, to comment on the work presented from the floor.

Call for Papers- Deadline March 1, 2008 - Now closed

Academics, practitioners and officials working with competition law enforcement data are invited to submit their research results, as well as work in progress, to be considered for inclusion in the program. We welcome all original research of high quality that is related to this specialized workshop topic. Please note, however, that we have to limit participation in the workshop to a small and specialized group of no more than 35 scholars in total.

Submissions for inclusion in the program (full papers or abstracts) may be sent - with electronic and regular author's address information - by email to: ACLE@uva.nl

Please indicate: submission for ACLE workshop ‘DG Competition Data'.

Academic Program Committee

The Academic Program Committee consists of: Stephen Davies (University of East Anglia), Tomaso Duso (WZB Berlin), Martin Carree (Maastricht University), Jordi Gual (IESE Business School), Andrea Günster (Maastricht University) Christopher Harding (Aberystwyth University), Bruce Lyons (University of East Anglia), Núria Mas (IESE Business School), Francesco Russo (Bonelli Erede & Pappalardo and University of Amsterdam), Maarten Pieter Schinkel (University of Amsterdam, chair) and Floris Vogelaar (University of Amsterdam).

Workshop Program

Participation

Participation is on invitation only. We ask a fee of €125,- from all participants to cover expenses. The fee includes 2 lunches, a continuous suppy of coffee and tea, and a Friday night drink.

It is not possible to register as audience.

Please click on the link below for the list of participants.

From/to Conference Venue

Address:
De Industrieele Groote Club
Dam 27
1012 JS Amsterdam

Directions:
By foot from Central Station: Cross the square outside the station, pass the traffic lights straight ahead twice. At the Damrak you'll see department store Bijenkorf on your left hand sight. Cross the Dam square straight. On the corner with Rokin is the building Industria where the IGC is.

Per tram from Central station: Trams 4, 9,16,20,24 of 25 stop in front of department store Bijenkorf. Cross the Dam square straight. On the corner with Rokin is the building Industria where the IGC is.

Hotel Accommodation

Participants are to arrange their own lodging. The following is a selection of hotels in de vicinity of the conference venues.

• The Bridge *** (block booking code: ACLE data)
  Amstel 107-111
  Website: www.thebridgehotel.nl/wb/
  Phone: +31 (0)206237068
  Prices from €115
  
• Lancaster *** (block booking code: ACLE data)
  Plantage Middenlaan 48
  Website: www.lancasteramsterdamhotel.com/
  Phone: +31 (0)205356884
  Prices from €79
  
• The Grand *****Deluxe
  Oudezijds Voorburgwal 197
  Website: www.thegrand.nl
  Phone: +31 (0)20 555 3555
  Prices from € 275
  
• NH Doelen ****
  Nieuwe Doelenstraat 24
  Website: www.nh-hotels.com
  Phone: +31 (0)20-5540662
  Prices from € 140
  
• Le Coin ***
  Nieuwe Doelenstraat 5
  Website www.lecoin.nl
  Phone: +31 (0)20 524 6800
  Prices from € 90 (mention ACLE Conference)
  
• Arena Hotel ***
  's Gravesandestraat 51
  Website www.hotelarena.nl
  Phone: +31 (0)20 8502400
  Prices from € 100
  
• Hostel Stay OK Amsterdam Vondelpark
  Zandpad 5
  Website: www.stayokay.com
  Phone: + 31 (0)20 5898996
  Prices from € 73,50

ACLE Local Organizing Committee

Note for regular ACLE conference visitors

For several reasons, including the 10th anniversary of the NMa this year, we have decided to keep this 2008 C&R meeting small-scale. Next year, we are planning a regular conference again. It will be a two-day event on the topic "Private Information and Incentives to Enforce and Comply". Joe Harrington (Johns Hopkins) and Giancarlo Spagnolo (University of Rome "Tor Vergata") have already agreed to contribute. More information and a call for papers will follow soon.