Karanović & Partners, together with Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, held on 15 December 2020 our traditional annual Competition Conference, online for the first time in 15 years. More than 100 attendees from different parts of the world joined our Zoom session in order to discuss the latest developments in the field of competition law. The conference traditionally gathered the key stakeholders from the world of business, legal community as well as the competition regulators.
Also, we traditionally presented the newest edition of our annual publication Focus on Competition, that will be available in an electronic format. The publication features the latest updates and developments from the local, regional and the EU practice of the competition law, as well as articles from various eminent experts from legal and economic field.
After the welcome speech by Rastko Petaković, Senior Partner, two panel discussions were held – one dedicated to identification of competition law risks and internal procedures, and the second one on risk management in competition matters.
Identification of competition law risks and internal procedures
The first panel was moderated by Bojan Vučković, Partner⃰, while the panelists included Ms. Mirta Kapural, Member of the Council of Croatian Competition Agency, Ms. Sandra Simić, Head of Legal Department and Compliance Officer from Henkel Serbia, Mr. Paul Hutchinson, Partner at RBB Economics, Ms. Orianne Auger from Luminance, and Ms. Bojana Miljanović, Senior Associate⃰. The panel focused on the administrative tools that the competition authorities use in their practice; the biggest practical challenges that in-house lawyers, firm management and external counsels face when it comes to identifying competition law related risks, some useful tips on how to best approach them, as well as on the growing role of the artificial intelligence in the identification of the very same risks.
Risk management in competition matters
The moderator of the second panel was Nihad Sijerčić, Partner⃰, who discussed the best risk management tools and practices in competition matters and the biggest challenges in assessing and mitigating potential risks from the point of view of companies, associations and external advisors. Mr. Joachim Schütze, Partner at Clifford Chance, Mr. Miša Vorotović, Senior Counsel SEE at Philip Morris, Mr. Ianis Girgenson, Group General Counsel from United Group, Mr. Andreja Pavlović, Executive Director of the Serbian Brewers Association and Mr. Kevin Rihtar, Senior Associate from Ketler & Partners, a member of Karanovic, found themselves among the panelists and had a dynamic and interesting discussion on the best risk management tools and practices.
