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5thASEAN COMPETITION CONFERENCE:
“Advancing Competition Policy and Law Post-2015:
Progress, Opportunities and Challenges”
4-5 June 2015 | Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
Working Agenda as of 8 May 2015
The year 2015 marks an important milestone for ASEAN on its journey towards deeper
economic integration through the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
ASEAN Member States (AMS) have increased their efforts to put into place key measures to
enhance the trade and investment climate while strengthening the legal frameworks for
competition, consumer protection and intellectual property rights. In line with the
commitments under the AEC Blueprint, seven AMS have enacted competition laws; six have
already set up a dedicated competition agency, with the remaining countries expected to
follow suit by 2016. Efforts are on-going to develop a regional cooperation framework that will
– in the long run – allow for greater cooperation in the handling of cross-border competition
cases.
The imminent realisation of the AEC 2015 calls for a closer look at the scope and state of
ASEAN integration, as well as its implications for businesses and consumers. The
challenges are multi-fold: How can economic potentials presented by the larger market of the
AEC be unlocked? The private sector and civil society are aware of ASEAN but more work is
required to enhance their understanding so that they can take advantage of the new
opportunities. How can ASEAN meet the expectations and promises associated with an AEC
in 2015? What are the perspectives – and potential challenges – for competition policy in this
context?
As ASEAN works out its comprehensive post-2015 vision, it will be important to be mindful
and realistic about communicating what the AEC 2015 means and entails. The formal
establishment of the AEC 2015, with its single market and production base, will ultimately put
the compliance of Member States with regional commitments to the test: effective integration
does not only rely on intensified regional cooperation, but also requires continued regulatory
reforms and institutional development in the Member States. This is particularly relevant
when it comes to promoting fair competition in ASEAN.
The ASEAN Competition Conference (ACC) series is the flagship annual event spearheaded
bythe ASEAN Experts Group on Competition (AEGC). It was first convened in 2011 in Bali,
Indonesia, and has since become an important platform for reaching out to a broader public
and inform about recent developments as well as share best practices in Competition Policy
and Law (CPL) in ASEAN.
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5THASEAN COMPETITION CONFERENCE:
“Advancing Competition Policy and Law Post-2015: Progress, Opportunities and
Challenges”
4-5 June 2015 | Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
Annotated Agenda
Day 1: Thursday, 4 June 2015
Time
Topics
08:15-09:00
Registration and Welcome Coffee
09:00-09:30
Opening Remarks

9:30-9.50
Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam (tbc)
Keynote Speech: Perspectives and “Growing Pains” of the AEC towards 2015
– and Beyond
The keynote speech will provide an insight into what the AEC 2015 means – and
why it matters to both businesses and consumer alike. It will outline the pillars and
cornerstones of economic integration in ASEAN, with a focus on the expected
benefits of increased internal and external trade. Against this backdrop, the role of
Competition Policy and Law (CPL) will be explained, along with some preliminary
prospect concerning the future of CPL in ASEAN in view of current trends in regional
and international cooperation.
Speaker:
 HE Mr Penn Sovicheat
Director General, Domestic Trade Directorate, Ministry of Commerce of
Cambodia and concurrently, Chair of the ASEAN Experts Group on Competition
(AEGC)
9.50-10:10
Overview: Competition Policy and Law (CPL) in ASEAN at a Crossroads
The session will provide an update on competition regimes in ASEAN and the
progress with respect to key initiatives and deliverables of the AEGC under the
ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint 2009-2015. It will also highlight
competition issues in the run-up to the AEC 2015 and crucial considerations taken
up in the new Post-2015 Competition Action Plan (CAP).
Speaker:

Ms Yap Lai Peng
Head, Competition, Consumer Protection, IP Division, ASEAN Secretariat
10:10-10:30
Coffee Break and Photo Session
10:30-12.00
Session 1: The Emerging Competition Landscape in ASEAN
A sound and effective competition policy comprises the active role of the competition
agency in promoting economic policies, laws and regulations from a competition
perspective. However, the challenge often lies in strategically positioning competition
agencies as resources in relevant policy-making processes, thereby highlighting the
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important role of competition policy in establishing effective markets. Setting the
scene for the ensuing discussions, the session will look at emerging competition
regimes in ASEAN, reflecting on key challenges for both new as well as more
experienced agencies, and the future competition landscape in an increasingly
integrated region.
Moderator:
 Dr Deunden Nikomborirak
Research Director, Thailand Development Research Institute
Speakers:

Mr Nawir Messi
Chairman, Commission for the Supervision of Business Competition (KPPU)

Mr Marcus Bezzi
Executive General Manager, Enforcement and Compliance of the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)

Mr Geronimo L. Sy
Assistant Secretary, Department of Justice of Philippines / Head of the Office for
Competition (OFC)

Dr Hassan Qaqaya
Perdana University, Malaysia
Followed by Q&A
12:00-13:30
Lunch Break
13:30-15:00
Session 2: Fostering a Competition-Aware Region
Competition Policy and Law (CPL) is not developed or implemented in isolation or in
an “ivory tower”, but requires the awareness and active engagement of various
stakeholders. Building a competition community and broad-based “competition
culture” requires bringing together the state and private sector, academia, media and
the general public. In line with the cross-cutting goal of the post-2015 Competition
Action Plan of “fostering a competition-aware region”, the session will accentuate the
importance of targeted advocacy measures on CPL, particularly as a pre-emptive
means of ensuring business compliance.
Moderator:

Mr Lee Jwee Nguan
Director of Legal and Enforcement, Competition Commission of Singapore
Speakers:

Ms Heidi Farah Sia Binti Abd Rahman
Special Duties Officer Grade 1,Brunei Darussalam

Unilever Representative (Vietnam) (tbc)
tbc

NZCC Representative (tbc)

Mr Iskandar Ismail
Director of Enforcement Division, Malaysia Competition Comission
Followed by Q&A
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15:00-15.15
Coffee Break
15:15-16:45
Session 3: Competitive Neutrality – Maintaining a Level Playing Field between
Public and Private Business
The session will shed light on the concept of competitive neutrality which is gaining
ground in international discussions and essentially entails that the same set of rules
applies to public and private businesses. With the objective of safeguarding
efficiency, this serves to ensure that business activities by the government do not
have competitive advantage over private businesses, simply by virtue of government
ownership or control. However, in practice, many competition agencies across the
world are faced with considerable challenges, for example when it comes to a lack of
transparency in public procurement. The session will address some of the main
issues surrounding competition policy vis-à-vis state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or
what is sometimes called “government-linked monopolies”. It will share selected
national good practices promoting competitive neutrality, among others from the
work of OECD and UNCTAD’s Research Partnership Platform.
Moderator:
 Dr Cheong May Fong
Professorial Visiting Fellow, University of New South Wales
Speakers:
 Mr Toh Han Li
Chief Executive, Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS)

Mr John Davies
Head of Competition Division, OECD

Ms Wan Khatina Nawawi
Director of Research, Khazanah Research Institute

Mr Nguyen Anh Tuan
LNT and Partners, Ho Chi Minh City
Followed by Q&A
16:45-17:15
Wrap-Up and Summary of Day 1

Ms Shila Dorai Raj
Conference Convenor
From 19:00
Dinner (hosted by the VCA)
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Day 2: Friday, 5 June 2015
Time
08:15-08:30
Topics
Registration and Morning Coffee
08:30-08:45
Recap of Day 1 and Introduction to Day 2

08:45-09:15
Ms Shila Dorai Raj
Conference Convenor
Keynote Address: The consumer is king! – The Interfaces between
Competition and Consumer Policies
Although competition and consumer policies pursue similar objectives towards
ensuring consumer sovereignty, they rely on the application of different instruments
(and often, separate institutional arrangements) to achieve those objectives. The
session will examine the complementarity of both policies and how they can be
mutually enforcing in governing the interaction between firms and the relationship
between firms and consumers, respectively. The address will also review the
institutional mechanisms and the way forward for consumer protection in ASEAN.
Speaker: Dr Hassan Qaqaya
Followed by Q&A
09:15-10:15
Session 4: A Regional Knowledge Hub on CPL in ASEAN?
The session will provide impulses to deliberate measures to gradually set up a
“knowledge hub” on competition issues and enforcement experiences within ASEAN.
The idea is to foster research and facilitate systematic knowledge transfer on CPL,
building on the work of the AEGC and expanding it to a network of competition
practitioners that could also inform and involve other stakeholders from the wider
competition community. The session will review international good practices and
lessons learnt, notably from the International Competition Network (ICN), and draw
up recommendations for the way forward in ASEAN.
Moderator:

Ms Alice Pham
Consumer and Competition Law Expert, former CUTS Hanoi Director
Speakers:
 Mr. M. Syarkawi Ra'uf
Comissioner, Commission for the Supervision of Business Competition (KPPU)

Dr Deunden Nikomborirak
Research Director, Thailand Development Research Institute

Prof Robert Ian McEwin
University of Malaya

Dr. Erlinda Medalla
Senior Research Fellow, Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS)
Followed by Q&A
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10:15-10:30
Coffee Break
10:30-11:30
Session 5: From Dialogue to Action –Considerations for Regional Enforcement
Cooperation on CPL in ASEAN
The discussion will pick up where the previous session left off in terms of mutual
learning among ASEAN Member States. As such, it will focus on modalities for
formalizing and institutionalizing enforcement cooperation within ASEAN. Certainly,
enforcing CPL does not take place in a vacuum and therefore must account for
political and economic context of the ten Member States. However, in the longer
term, it will become necessary for competition agencies in the region to set up a
mechanism to handle cross-border anti-competitive practices, albeit in the absence
of a supranational competition agency. The European Competition Network (ECN) is
often cited as a good practice for exchange of information and joint action of various
jurisdictions in a regional integration setting. The session is expected to provide
inputs that can be considered in the elaboration of initiatives on regional cooperation
under the Post-2015 ASEAN Competition Action Plan.
Moderator:

Mr Trinh Anh Tuan
Deputy Director General, Viet Nam Competition Authority (VCA)
Speakers:
 Mr Randolph W. Tritell
Director of the Office of International Affairs, United States Federal Trade
Commission (USFTC)

Mr Toshiyuki Nambu
Deputy Secretary General for
Commission (JFTC)
International Affairs, Japan Fair
Trade

Mr Michael Albers
Competition Law Expert and Former Hearing Officer at the Directorate-General
for Competition Policy of the European Commission

Mr Cao Xuan Hien
Director, Antitrust Division, Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA)
Followed by Q&A
11:30–12:30
Side Event: Launching the Report on Economic Concentration – Vietnam 2014

12:30-12:45
12:45-12:55
Wrap-Up and Key Messages

Ms Shila Dorai Raj, Conference Convenor

Moderators Session 1-5
Closing Remarks and End of Conference

12:55-14:00
Rep. of Australian Embassy in Vietnam and the VCA
Mr Bach Van Mung
Director-General, Viet Nam Competition Authority (VCA)
Lunch
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14:00-15:00
Post-Conference Debriefing (Closed Door for AEGC, Convener and Development
Partners)
15:00-15:15
Coffee Break
15:15-16:15
Joint Consultation between AEGC and Development Partners(Closed Door)
****
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