In network industries such as telecommunications, energy, or railway, economic regulation aims at fostering market liberalisation by imposing asymmetrical duties on the incumbent. In the pharmaceutical sector, regulation aims at solving information asymmetries and ensuring drug affordability for final consumers. 

Both in the network industries and in the pharmaceutical sector, sector regulation overlaps with EU competition policy.

The seminar aims at gathering academics, practitioners, officials from national governments and EU institutions, and industry representatives to debate the interaction of EU competition law and sector-specific regulation in the telecom and pharmaceutical sectors. The event is organised in cooperation with Bird & Bird LLP and represents the fourth edition of the series.

The first panel will be devoted to the ongoing debate on fair sharing and network neutrality in the telecom sector, assessing whether and to what extent fair sharing may co-exist with the network neutrality principle. The second panel will focus on the pharmaceutical sector, looking at the case of excessive prices of off-patent drugs and debating whether and to what extent competition authorities could also sanction excessive prices of drugs covered by patents.

During the event, the speakers will also present the book "The Interaction of Competition Law and Sector Regulation. Emerging Trends at the National and EU Level", edited by Pier Luigi Parcu, Giorgio Monti, and Marco Botta (Edward Elgar Publishing).

Practical information

The seminar is organised in a hybrid format: invited speakers and attendees will join the event in person, at the Bird & Bird premises, and are welcome to join the networking cocktail at the end of the event. While in-person attendance is upon invitation only, interested participants may follow the seminar online (online registration is required).