Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio
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International Relations
The International Competition Network (ICN) is a virtual and informal network whose objective is to facilitate cooperation between worldwide competition authorities. Its creation occurred in 2001, after the publication of the Final Report of the Advisory Policy Committee on International Competition to the United States General Attorney and the Deputy General Attorney for the Defense of Competition. In this report, experts in competition law of the United States considered that having a greater collaboration between foreign authorities would have a positive impact and contribution to the coordination of the application and the exchange of information on global competition policy.
Currently, the ICN has the participation of at least 132 member states that belong to 120 competition jurisdictions dedicated exclusively to application of competition laws. ICN currently has five working groups: Cartels; Competition Advocacy; Agency effectiveness; Mergers Unilateral Conducts.
At the beginning of the year, Andreas Mundt, Chair of the International Competition Network (ICN), informed the international community about the appointment of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) as Co-Chair of the Advocacy Working Group (AWG) until 2023.
The SIC will have the opportunity to work hand in hand with our counterparts in Norway and Hong Kong in a responsible and efficient manner in order to represent Colombia in the best possible way in the international arena.
The AWG participation is of immense importance for the SIC, since it is the group in charge of improving the effectiveness of the ICN member states in relation to the promotion and dissemination of competition principles, as well as fostering the development of a competition culture. The AWG's main function is to develop tools and practical guidelines to facilitate the exchange of experience among ICN members.
In 2015 the Superintendence held the ICN Cartel Workshop, an event whose main topic was international cooperation and convergence between competition authorities for the sanction of international cartels. In this opportunity the SIC had the honored to host more than 100 officials from different competition authorities around the world.
Another of the great events carried out by the SIC was the organization of the ICN Annual Conference held from May15 to 17 in Cartagena. That was one of the biggest events within the competition community. Colombia hosted 133 worldwide competition authorities. One of the main achievements obtained, was the designation of Colombia, for a two-years period ( since 2021) as one of the 18 member states of the Steering Group, the group responsible for guiding the ICN mission, among others.
ICN has played a fundamental role in the officials’ building capacity of the Deputy Superintendence for Competition Protection. Calls and Webinars are held monthly, in which experiences are shared by other authorities and by the Superintendence itself.
