Bringing together leading antitrust practitioners, enforcers, academics and economic experts for the past 48 years, the Fordham Competition Law Institute’s Annual Conference on International Antitrust Law and Policy is the longest running conference focusing specifically on international antitrust issues. On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 2021, the 48th Annual Conference took place in New York, and focused on major themes including international and inter-agency cooperation and accounting for public interests in antitrust enforcement. Among the many distinguished guests were keynote speakers Andreas Mundt, Tim Wu, Margrethe Vestager and Richard Powers, who set the stage for later discussions that took place each day.

Day 1: Mundt, Wu and Global Merger Policy

Day one of the conference opened with keynote addresses by Andreas Mundt and Tim Wu, who each offered his own remarks about the future of antitrust enforcement. Mundt, the President of Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO) and Chair of the International Competition Network, began by noting that stringent application of competition law in Europe has already made a meaningful impact. For example, Mundt explained, the FCO was recently successful in obtaining amendments to Amazon’s general terms of business for third-party sellers, including limiting Amazon’s exemption of liability towards sellers, requiring that Amazon give notice before terminating sellers’ accounts and eliminating exclusivity of jurisdiction in Luxembourg for disputes. However, Mundt was clear that the impact of antitrust enforcement is not yet what he aspires it to be.