The 25 European competition authorities met in Rome. The event was hosted by the AGCM

The meeting of the ECA (European Competition Authorities), the informal network that gathers together the European Antitrust Authorities, which marks the twentieth anniversary of its establishment, has ended. The event was hosted on 23 and 24 September by the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) and the president Roberto Rustichelli welcomed the heads of the Authorities of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, EFTA Surveillance Authority, Estonia, European Commission, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland. 

The meeting was structured in three sessions. In the first session, the heads of the 25 authorities discussed the EU legislative proposal to regulate the digital economy; in particular they addressed the complementarity between the antitrust rules and the regulation of digital platforms brought about by the DMA, the governance and institutional design of the new legislation with specific reference to the role of that national competition authorities might perform in the enforcement of the DMA. 

In the second session, the participants addressed the relationship between competition policy and sustainability objectives and how competition policy can support the transition to a more sustainable economy.

Finally, the delegates debated how competition authorities with multiple competences can consistently pursue the various institutional tasks assigned by the legislator while focusing, at the same time, on an effective enforcement of competition law.

Rome, 24, September, 2021