RELEVANT COMPETITION LAW ISSUES WERE DISCUSSED AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Association activities and the regulation of digital markets were the focus of the traditional Baltic Competition Conference in Vilnius, which brought together competition law, economics and other professionals from several countries in the region.

Opening the 20th Baltic Competition Conference, the Chairwoman of the Competition Council Jolanta Ivanauskienė welcomed the long-standing tradition of the conference, which annually brings together experts from the competition authorities of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as representatives from other fields of law, and provides an opportunity to discuss the most important issues of competition law and policy relevant to the three neighbours and to the international community.

One of the topical issues in Lithuania is the activities of business associations in the context of competition law, cooperation with public authorities and participation in legislative processes. The first panel of the conference was devoted to these issues, entitled "Association Activities: Co-operation, And What's Lobbying Got to Do with It?"

The discussion, moderated by Eglė Malonytė, Head of the Competition Policy Group of the Competition Council, focused on the principles of association activities, which are important both for companies seeking effective representation of their common interests and for the authorities dealing with associations in the legislative process or in investigating possible breaches of law. Agnė Selemonaitė, representative of the Lithuanian start-up association Unicorns Lithuania, Andrius Romanovskis, President of the Lithuanian Business Confederation, together with Ingrida Kalinauskienė, Head of the Lithuanian Division of Transparency International, and Juste Bulyte, representative of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, discussed the importance of lobbying, explained the challenges for business associations to maintain a balance between effective cooperation among businesses and the duty to ensure that their actions comply with the rules of competition, and answered the questions of the participants.

The second part of the conference focused on the current state of supervision of digital markets and the Digital Markets Act, one of the most important EU documents adopted recently. The discussion "In Search of Fair Competition Deal in Digital Markets", moderated by Irma Urmonaitė, Deputy Chairwoman of the Competition Council, focused on the importance of effective competition in digital markets and what measures could encourage businesses to compete fairly not only in the traditional environment, but also in the digital space.

Michael Koenig, Head of the Digital Platforms Unit at the European Commission, Ori Schwartz, Head of the Competition Unit at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Daniel Mankowski, Vice President of the Polish Competition and Consumer Protection Authority, and Dina Lurje, Head of the Legal Unit at Nord Security, acknowledged that the pace of change in the digital markets is so fast that the process of business progression resembles a race, so quick solutions are important for both innovating private business and public authorities.

The regional conference is organised annually by one of the three Baltic States. Guests take part in panel discussions and expert working groups on merger control, anti-competitive agreements and the application of case law, as well as other common topics. Next year, the Baltic Competition Conference will be taking place in Latvia.