Seoul International Competition Forum

The 5th Seoul International Competition Forum was held on September 3, 2008 at the Lotte Hotel World.  80 people involved with competition policy from 26 different countries worldwide and 240 Korean experts on competition laws and businessmen attended the Forum.  Mr. Walter Stoffel (President of the Competition Commission) from Switzerland, the next ICN (International Competition Network) annual conference hosting country, Mr. Thomas Rosch (Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, USA), Prime Minister Seung-Soo Han, and Mr. Yong-Ho Baek (Chairman of the Korea Fair Trade Commission), and Dr. Myung-Hee Park (President of the Korea Consumer Agency) also participated in the Forum.       .

The Seoul International Competition Forum focused on ‘The optimal harmonization of the public and private enforcement’, ‘The role and direction of economic analysis in competition law enforcement’ and ‘The competition law enforcement strategy in the health care industry’.  The Forum also intensively covered consumer damage related issues such as consumer damages from unfair business practices in market and private enforcement against consumer damages from competition law infringement.

This year’s Forum in particular attracted many participants from overseas, most likely due to the rising international status of the Korea Fair Trade Commission which has been harmonizing Korean consumer policies and competition policies.

            Prime Minister Seung-Soo Han                   The 5th Seoul International Competition Forum