Multilateral cooperation

The Commission continued its active engagement in competition-related international fora such as the Competition Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Competition Network (ICN), the World Bank and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

In OECD in June, the Commission contributed to the discussions on methodologies for conducting market studies151, use of traditional antitrust enforcements tools in multi-sided markets152, algorithms and collusion153, and competition issues in aftermarkets154. Likewise, during the OECD Competition Committee's meeting in June, the Commission presented, its proposal for a EU Directive to empower national competition authorities to be more effective enforcers (the ECN+ initiative), and the key findings of the e-commerce sector inquiry. In December, the Commission contributed to the OECD's discussions on judicial perspectives of competition law155, the challenges related to the imposition of extraterritorial remedies156, the cooperation between competition agencies and regulators in the financial market157 and safe harbours, presumptions of illegality and standards in competition law158.

In the ICN, following the Porto Annual Conference which took place in May, the Commission continued co-chairing the Cartel Working Group and contributed to updating the ICN 2008 report on "Setting Fines for Cartels in ICN Jurisdictions"159 and the "Anti-Cartel Enforcement Manual"160. The Commission is also an active member of the Merger and

151

For further information see http://www.oecd.org/daf/competition/market-study-methodologies-for- competition-authorities.htm.

152

For further information see http://www.oecd.org/daf/competition/rethinking-antitrust-enforcement-tools-in- multi-sided-markets.htm.

153

For further information see http://www.oecd.org/daf/competition/algorithms-and-collusion.htm. 154

For further information see http://www.oecd.org/daf/competition/aftermarkets-competition-issues.htm. 155

For further information see http://www.oecd.org/daf/competition/judicial-perspectives-competition-law.htm. 156

For further information see http://www.oecd.org/daf/competition/extraterritorial-reach-of-competition- remedies.htm.

157

For further information see http://www.oecd.org/daf/competition/cooperation-between-competition-agencies- and-regulators-in-the-financial-sector.htm.

158

For further information see http://www.oecd.org/daf/competition/safe-harbours-and-legal-presumptions-in- competition-law.htm.

159

For further information see http://www.internationalcompetitionnetwork.org/uploads/library/doc1127.pdf. 160

For further information see https://icn2017.concorrencia.pt/downloads/materials/CWG-Compliation-of-Good- Practices.pdf.

Unilateral Conduct Working Groups where it contributes to the various projects carried out by these groups, such as the development of the Unilateral Conduct Workbook161 and the revision of the ICN Recommended Practices for Merger Notification and Review Procedures162 and the ICN Recommended Practices for Merger Analysis163.

The Commission also participated in the 16th meeting of the UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts (IGE) on Competition Law and Policy (CLP), which was held in Geneva in July 2017. The conference included discussions on the capacity-building and technical assistance in the area of competition law and policy, enhancing international cooperation in the investigation of competition cross-border cases and challenges faced by young and small competition authorities in the design of merger control.

External Communication

The Directorate-General for Competition's external communication is largely based on the use of mass media to reach a variety of audiences, including businesses, lawyers, researchers, academics, students and the general public. This is achieved principally via the Commissioner's press conferences, press releases and speeches, as well as social media. In addition, the Directorate-General issues newsletters and other publications aimed at stakeholders and the general public, as well as participation by staff in stakeholder conferences.

The mass media are by far the most cost-effective channel to reach a wide audience. According to a 2014 Eurobarometer on "Citizens’ Perception about Competition Policy", people's two main sources of information about competition policies were television (62%) and newspapers or magazines, including online (60%). These were followed by internet-based media (38%) and radio (34%).

The Directorate-General for Competition produced 518 press releases related to competition cases during 2017. Of these, 127 were longer, multilingual, press releases while a further 391 were shorter and monolingual. Media coverage of some of the cases was worldwide, reaching tens of millions of people, for example, the Google Shopping and Qualcomm antitrust cases and the Apple and Amazon state aid cases. All of these cases were covered by TV, radio, print and internet media around the globe.

Throughout 2017, Commissioner Vestager delivered around 70 speeches to a variety of audiences, including a TED Talk, the video of which was viewed over 1 million times. The Director-General delivered 25 speeches at a variety of international events.

On social media, the Directorate General for Competition was active on Twitter during 2017. Throughout the year, Over 1000 tweets from the Directorate-General’s account achieved more than 3 million impressions (i.e. the number of times a tweet appears in someone's feed). Topics achieving high traffic included the Dow/Dupont, Bayer/Monsanto and Morpho Detection/Smiths mergers, the Apple and Amazon State aid cases, and the Google Shopping, International Skating Union and Aspen Pharma antitrust cases. Followers of the DirectorateGeneral's twitter account rose to 10,000 during the year.

161

For further information see http://www.internationalcompetitionnetwork.org/working- groups/current/unilateral/ucworkbook.aspx.

162

For further information see http://www.internationalcompetitionnetwork.org/uploads/library/doc1108.pdf. 163

The DirectorateGeneral's electronic newsletters had over 20,000 subscribers in 2017 while paper publications in the EU Bookshop were downloaded 5000 times.