How should competition law be shaped in reaction to digitization? This question is currently a hot topic for politicians and academics. Prof. Dr. Rupprecht Podszun, co-director of the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Law at Heinrich Heine University, has dealt with this question at important conferences: In Berlin, upon invitation by the Bundeskartellamt, Podszun was a speaker at a workshop for "young" cartel law jurisdictions on the occasion of the International Cartel Conference (IKK). The IKK is one of the most important antitrust law venues in the world. At the workshop, representatives from competition agencies discussed how antitrust law should be deal with digital cases. Together on the podium with Rupprecht Podszun were Michel Halperin, head of the Israeli antitrust authority, Andrey Tsyganov, Vice President of the Russian antitrust authority, Sandro Gleave of the Bundeskartellamt and Thomas Vinje, a Brussels-based lawyer.
The necessary changes in antitrust law were also the topic of a panel at the American Chamber of Commerce in Europe (AmChamEU) in Brussels. Here, Rupprecht was on the podium with Maria Jaspers, Head of Unit in the Directorate General Competition, Oliver Bethell, Head of Competition at Google, and Antonio Capobianco from the OECD. The event was the first in Brussels to discuss the so-called Report of the Special Advisers to Commissioner Vestager, in which three academics had worked out on behalf of the Commission how antitrust law should be shaped for a digital economy.