BRUGES, 12 July 2019 – The 2^nd Competition Summer School was convened from 1 – 12 July 2019 at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. Twenty ASEAN competition officials from the ASEAN Member States and the ASEAN Secretariat attended the two-weeks intensive training programme on the EU competition law regime.

Mr Torben Toft, Senior Expert, International Relations, the European Commission Directorate-General of Competition (EC DG Competition), informed that the Competition Summer School aims to enable technical exchanges, facilitate cooperation and coordination amongst the participating authorities, as well as increase and deepen contacts with the European officials and professionals. The participation of competition officials from South Korea and India, enriched the discussion of the course and enabled the participants to broaden their understanding of other competition regimes. The DG Competition looked forward to continuing the cooperation developed amongst competition officials under the programme.

The programme was delivered by prominent competition academicians and practitioners, which covered the fundamentals and institutional architecture of the EU competition regime, as stipulated under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as well as recent developments, and major anti-competitive cases in the EU. The course includes a study visit to the EC DG Competition to gain insights to the role of the DG Competition, the European Competition Network and the EU Court of Justice. Officials of the DG Competition also deliberated the investigation procedures of several major anti-competitive cases conducted between 2018 – 2019.

The course covered several topics which includes horizontal and vertical restraints, abuse of dominant position, cartels, mergers and acquisitions, state aid policy, economics of competition law, and the digital economy.

Mrs. Aramsri Rupan, Commissioner of the Office of Trade Competition Commission of Thailand, stated that the course extensively covers key elements of the EU Competition Law and provided an opportunity for officials to learn the EU approach to dealing with emerging issues in competition such as digital platforms and Intellectual property rights.

The 2^nd Competition Summer School is part of the EU-ASEAN Competition Cooperation Project which is supported by the DG Competition of the European Commission.