Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the International Competition Network (ICN) Annual Conference was held online for the first time this year. It is hoped that the 20th anniversary ICN conference, which is planned to be hosted by the Hungarian Competition Authority next year in Budapest, will be able to be held in the usual in-person format.

This year’s ICN Annual Conference took place from 14-17 September. The conference, which was held for the 19th time, was organised by the US competition authorities – the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ).

The conference covered a number of topical issues of particular interest, primarily related to the digital world. At the core of the conference was the question how competition authorities around the world can respond to the challenges of the rapidly evolving and changing digital economy.

While such an event is usually attended by 500-550 participants, one particular advantage of the virtual nature of this year's conference was that it enabled a practically unlimited number of competition experts, competition authority experts, lawyers, judges, academics and competition lawyers from all around the world to follow the professional discussions that took place. The right to host the 2021 ICN Annual Conference has been granted to the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) and is planned to take place from 12-15 October 2021.

In his closing speech at this year’s conference the President of the GVH, Balázs Csaba Rigó, invited the ICN members to attend the 20th anniversary conference that will take place in Budapest. The participants were able to watch the GVH's short film inviting them to the 2021 event at the end of the closing speech.

GVH Press Office

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