Natalie Harsdorf, Director General of the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (AFCA), was appointed Chair of the Working Party on Competition and Regulation by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on 21 October 2024. She is the first Austrian to hold this position, taking on her new role from 1 January 2025.
“I am delighted to be the first Austrian to take on this leading role in the Competition Committee. Competition and regulation are not only personally important to me, they are also vital for our society in times like these,“ commented Director General Natalie Harsdorf.
There were two additional changes to the make-up of the committee: Benoît Cœuré, President of the French competition authority, was elected Chair of the OECD Competition Committee by the committee members for a renewable term of one year, with effect from 1 January 2025. Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, was elected Chair of the Working Party on Co-operation and Enforcement.
OECD Competition Committee
The Competition Committee and its Working Parties meet twice a year in Paris. The OECD Global Forum on Competition meets once every year on the occasion of the Competition Committee meeting 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.
Within the Working Parties on Competition and Regulation and on Co-operation and Enforcement there is regular mutual exchange of relevant competition issues. The AFCA contributes actively, taking part in discussions and also submitting written papers.
The OECD Competition Committee was established in 1961 and brings together competition experts from all of the OECD member and partner countries. Its main objective is to protect and promote competition as an organising principle of modern economies. The Committee works to enhance the effectiveness of competition law enforcement, promote pro-competition economic reforms, strengthen synergies between competition policy and other areas of the OECD’s work, and foster dialogue and cooperation between member countries’ competition authorities.
For further information, please go to: https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/competition.html