30 September 2021, Budapest – The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has surveyed the interactions of sustainability and competition law globally for the first time as the host of the conference of the International Competition Network (ICN), which brings together competition authorities from around the world, to be held in October. More than 1000 competition law experts from 130 countries may follow the upcoming global virtual meeting.

Between 13 and 15 October 2021, Hungary is going to host the world conference of the International Competition Network (ICN). The online event is going to be opened by Csaba Balázs RIGÓ, President of the Hungarian Competition Authority, Andreas MUNDT, ICN Steering Group Chairman & President of the Bundeskartellamt, and Péter SZIJJÁRTÓ, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary.

It is a tradition of competition authority world conferences that the host country prepares a special project for the event. The GVH, as this year’s host, selected the correlations of sustainable development and competition law as the topic of its special project. The project was the first to survey the environmental sustainability aspects of competition law enforcement among competition authorities and non-governmental advisors (’NGAs’) across the globe, with special regard to restrictive agreements. Within the framework of the survey, 52 competition authorities and 41 NGAs from around the world filled out the questionnaires associated with the project. Following the analysis of the data, the experts of the GVH are going to report on the results in the form of a study.

One of the most important findings of the GVH’s survey is that although there is only a few and primarily European experience available for now, market practices that give rise to competition law questions related to sustainability will likely become more widespread in the future, which will pose a global challenge for national competition authorities. Among others, the project explored the legal background of the topic, the variety of research conducted by competition authorities, and how competition authorities around the world are preparing for challenges concerning sustainability.

At the ICN conference in October, the international experts of the field will also hold a panel discussion on the issues of sustainable development and competition law. On behalf of the GVH, Csaba Balázs RIGÓ, President of the Authority will participate in the panel.

The report of the GVH on the results of the special project of the ICN 2021 conference is available on the website of the Authority in English:  https://www.gvh.hu/en/gvh/Conference/icn-2021-annual-conference/special-project-for-the-2021-icn-annual-conference-sustainable-development-and-competition-law

GVH Press Office

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