Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and its Competition Committee, as well as the Working Parties on Competition and Regulation and Co-operation and Enforcement, are important forums for the discussion of competition policy issues. These forums are used to meet and talk about relevant competition issues on a regular basis. The AFCA contributes actively, both taking part in discussions and submitting written papers.

The Competition Committee and its Working Parties meet twice a year in Paris. The OECD Global Forum on Competition meets every year and includes a wider group of participants. It brings together OECD members and delegates from more than 110 countries worldwide to discuss key topics on the global competition agenda.

Director-General Natalie Harsdorf was unanimously elected chair of the OECD Working Party on Competition and Regulation in October 2024. She took up the role on 1 January 2025, the first Austrian to do so.

The AFCA has submitted numerous written statements and taken part in many discussions on current and relevant competition topics over the last few years. Some of these statements and contributions to discussions were as follows (including links):

• Competition in the Food Supply Chain
• The Standard and Burden of Proof in Competition Law Cases
• The Interaction between Competition and Democracy
• Competition in the Circular Economy
• Out-of-Market Efficiencies in Competition Enforcement
• Theories of Harm for Digital Mergers
• Competition and Inflation
• Competition in Energy Markets
• The Evolving Concept of Market Power in the Digital Economy
• Competition Compliance Programmes
• News Media and Digital Platforms
• Environmental Considerations in Competition Enforcement
• Criminalisation of cartels and bid rigging conspiracies
• Using market studies to tackle emerging competition issues
• The standard of review by courts in competition cases
• Hub-and-spoke arrangements in competition
• Access to the case file and protection of confidential information
• Investigative power in practice
• Suspensory Effects of Merger Notifications and Gun Jumping
• and Designing publicly funded healthcare markets

Further information about the OECD can be found here.