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FTC Commissioner Edith Ramirez will participate in the 11th annual International Competition Network (ICN) conference in Rio de Janeiro from April 18-20, 2012.  At the conference, senior government officials, private-sector antitrust experts and representatives of intergovernmental organizations will meet to discuss key competition issues and recent ICN work in the areas of unilateral conduct, mergers, cartels, advocacy and agency effectiveness.

Conference panels will discuss cartel enforcement, bid rigging, settlements in the areas of mergers and unilateral conduct, issues in merger analysis, predatory pricing by dominant firms, effective competition advocacy and resource management for competition authorities.  Member agencies also will finalize work programs for the upcoming year and engage in long-term planning.

In October 2001, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice joined with antitrust agencies from 13 other jurisdictions around the world (Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Zambia) to create the ICN.  The ICN now includes 123 member agencies from 108 jurisdictions. The goal of the ICN is to provide a forum for antitrust agencies to address enforcement and policy issues of common interest, and to propose ways that member governments could more closely align their policies and enforcement.

The following portions of this year’s conference will be open to the press:

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18 (Day 1)

8:00 a.m. (EDT), 9:00 a.m. (BRT) – Opening Session
The conference opening session will include remarks by Brazilian Minister of Justice José Eduardo Cardozo, Brazilian Minister of Finance representative Antonio Henrique Silveira, and ICN Chair John Fingleton.

10:30 a.m. (EDT), 11:30 a.m. (BRT) – Advocacy Session
President of the Portuguese Competition Authority Manuel Sebastiao will moderate a panel discussion on effective competition advocacy.

1:30 p.m. (EDT), 2:30 p.m. (BRT) – Agency Effectiveness Session
Former FTC Chairman and Commissioner William Kovacic will join a discussion on resource management for competition authorities.

4:00 p.m. (EDT), 5:00 p.m. (BRT) – Steering Group Projects Session
Department of Justice Antitrust Division Special Advisor, International Rachel Brandenburger will present the international enforcement cooperation project.  Two other proposed ICN Steering Group projects, investigative process in competition cases and working with courts and judges, will also be discussed.

THURSDAY, APRIL 19 (Day 2)

8:00 a.m. (EDT), 9:00 a.m. (BRT) – Special Project Session
FTC Commissioner Ramirez will present remarks and participate in a discussion on settlements of unilateral conduct cases.

10:00 a.m. (EDT), 11:00 a.m. (BRT) – Merger Analysis Session
Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division Sharis A. Pozen, will moderate a panel on current trends and developments in merger enforcement.

1:30 p.m. (EDT), 2:30 p.m. (BRT) – ICN Curriculum Project Session
Director of the FTC’s Office of International Affairs Randolph W. Tritell will present the ICN Curriculum Project, an online collection of video training materials as part of the ICN’s virtual university on competition law and practice for agency officials.

1:45 p.m. (EDT), 2:45 p.m. (BRT) – Unilateral Conduct Session
FTC Counsel Cynthia Lagdameo will moderate a panel discussion on, “How Low Can You Go?  Pricing by Dominant Firms.”

FRIDAY, APRIL 20 (Day 3)

8:00 a.m. (EDT), 9:00 a.m. (BRT) – Cartel Session
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Scott D. Hammond of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division will moderate a panel on bid rigging.

11:30 a.m.  (EDT), 12:30 p.m. (BRT) – Closing

The conference will be held at the Royal Tulip Hotel in Rio de Janeiro.  More information about the conference is available at http://icn-rio.org/index.html.  ICN documents are available at www.internationalcompetitionnetwork.org.