,,,Promoting International Procedural Norms in Competition Law Enforcement

It is a pleasure to participate in the 2019 Kansas Law Review Symposium, “Antitrust Law and Policy in the 21st Century.” Antitrust is once again a hot topic and discussion about how to effectively enforce the laws in a digital age is generating widespread attention. My focus will be on the topic of promoting fundamental due process in competition law investigation and enforcement. With competition authorities around the globe becoming increasingly more active, it is one of the most important topics on the antitrust agenda. And this year, we witnessed a watershed moment with the adoption of a new framework protecting due process. The International Competition Network (ICN) unveiled the Framework on Competition Agency Procedures (CAP) in May 2019 to promote fundamental due process in competition investigation.1 As of August 2019, there were seventy-two signatories to the CAP, reflecting almost every leading competition authority.2 It was the first time in history that competition authorities from around the world entered into a multilateral framework on due process that included core due process protections and meaningful review mechanisms. It was, as United States Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim noted, “a remarkable and historic achievement for antitrust enforcement” that combines “strong substantive principles with meaningful review mechanisms” that “goes well beyond anything competition agencies have ever done before.”3