Philippines, 28 - 30 October 2019 - Officials from the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) and the Vietnam Competition and Consumer Protection Authority (VCCA), together with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and an expert from the Organisation for Economic Development Cooperation (OECD), met to discuss the scope and purpose of market studies, information gathering, and the interface with competition investigations.

The practical workshop focused on increasing participants' understanding of the function and purpose of market studies for competition agencies, as well as scoping and planning procedures, and possible outcomes. It also built participants’ levels of confidence in various aspects of undertaking market studies through practical exercises and active discussions on a range of case studies and reports.

Ms Kirsten Dela Cruz, Policy Research Officer at the PCC commented that "The workshop is very timely and relevant for the PCC because we are finalising our internal market study guidelines. This will boost our ongoing efforts in conducting issues papers and market studies. It will be helpful to adapt the practices covered in the workshop to our local context."

This three-day setting focused on peer-to-peer learning and the sharing of experiences between the PCC, VCCA, ACCC and OECD. It covered a variety of topics such as the objectives of market studies, market identification and considerations, planning procedures, information gathering and analysis, and the establishment of recommendations.

Ms Pham Thi Thuy Nga, Corporate Affairs Official at the VCCA said: "The topic of this workshop is very relevant; if my team does a market study, I will be able to apply what I have learned to achieve good outcomes. The workshop is very useful to supplement agencies' experience."

Organised by the ACCC and hosted by the PCC with support from the ASEAN Secretariat, this workshop is part of the multi-phase Competition Law Implementation Program (CLIP) under the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Economic Cooperation Support Programme. Currently in its third phase, CLIP promotes collaboration between competition agencies in the region to share resources, skills and techniques.