Korea Fair Trade chief to attend ICN annual meeting in Manila to discuss global cooperation

South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission said Tuesday that Chairman Joo Byung-ki will attend the 25th annual conference of the International Competition Network, to be held in Manila from May 6-8.

Hosted by the Philippine Competition Commission, the meeting is expected to focus on strategic planning and priority-setting; responses to algorithm-driven collusion in the digital environment; merger policy amid changing economic conditions; balancing effectiveness and predictability in enforcement against unilateral conduct; and new approaches to competition advocacy.

The ICN, founded in 2001, is a forum of 148 competition authorities, including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition. The FTC is a founding member and serves on the ICN steering group. The agency sent a bureau director last year, but Joo will attend in person this year.

On May 6, Joo is scheduled to join a plenary session on strategic planning and priority-setting to build agile, future-oriented competition authorities. The FTC said he plans to exchange views on challenges and responses with the heads of competition agencies from Greece, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Kenya and Poland.

The FTC said Joo will present South Korea’s efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of enforcement tools, including reforms to its administrative fine system and easing criminal penalties. He also plans to highlight steps to expand judicial remedies, including introducing a Korean-style evidence-discovery system and widening the scope of injunctions available through consumer class actions and consumer group lawsuits.

The FTC said Joo will also pursue bilateral cooperation during the conference, holding high-level talks with counterparts from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Italy’s competition authority and the European Commission’s competition directorate. It said he will sign a memorandum of understanding with Philippine authorities to strengthen cooperation on competition-law enforcement and will meet with South Korean businesspeople in the Philippines to hear their concerns.

“This visit will be a meaningful opportunity to seek response directions with the heads of competition authorities worldwide at a time when the competitive landscape is being rapidly reshaped by digital technology such as artificial intelligence,” Joo said.