E.CA Economics New Brussels Office Opening Event
To mark the occasion of our new office location in Brussels, on 4th June 2019, E.CA Economics organised a late afternoon workshop on the Role of Economic Evidence in Competition Cases, followed by a cocktail reception.
Four speakers highlighted various aspects of this theme. Frank Verboven (professor, KU Leuven) compared the predictions of an ex-ante merger simulation model which was used in a Swedish investigation with an ex-post study of the effects of that same merger. Alexis Walckiers (Chief Economist, Belgian Competition Authority) set out the Belgian competition system and explained how the authority makes use of economic evidence. The third speaker, Andriani Kalintiri (Lecturer in Law, City Law School, University of London) spoke about evidence standards in EU competition enforcement, distinguishing between ‘by effects’ analysis and ‘by object’ analysis. Finally, Tommaso Valletti (Chief Economist, DG Competition, European Commission) explained his views on the collection and presentation of economic evidence in cases before DG Competition, and the scope for using rebuttable presumptions.