Marchfeld Competition Forum

Marchfeld Declaration
Representatives of the national competition authorities from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and from the European Commission, Directorate General Competition, met July 2008 in Schloss Hof, Marchfeld/Austria, following a joint invitation by the Director General of the Austrian Federal Competition Authority Theodor Thanner and the Chairman of the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition Martin Pecina. The Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection was not able to attend but expressed its interest in participating in the initiative. In the course of this meeting a joint declaration, the so-called Marchfeld Declaration (Memorandum of Understanding) has been signed.

Pictures from MCF 2008

Objectives 
The initiative is aimed at the strengthening of regional cooperation and coordination between national competition authorities from EU Member States as well as non-members, in particular with regard to cross-border issues of common concern.
These objectives shall be pursued by discussing topical competition-related issues in regular meetings and dealing with these issues e.g. by setting up working groups or joint training initiatives.

Marchfeld Declaration

Financial Crisis and Competition Policy
In February 2009 high-level representatives of the MCF-Group met again on the occasion of the FIW-Symposium in Innsbruck to discuss the topical issue of "Financial Crisis and Competition Policy". Apart from representatives of the MCF-Group also Bernhard Heitzer, President of the German Bundeskartellamt participated in the discussion and Philip Collins, Chairman of the Office for Fair Trade, contributed to the debate by delivering the keynote address.
The discussion focused on the exchange of information on recent developments, "best practices" to deal with the new challenges and the elaboration and promotion of common positions. Against the background of the challenges the financial crisis brings about for competition policy and for competition agencies, a coherent approach based on close cooperation between competition authorities is of particular importance.

Common position on the role of competition policy and enforcement in times of economic crisis