Agenda

CONFERENCE DAY ONE - Thursday 12th March, 2009

8.30am Registration, morning tea & coffee

9.00am Welcome & Speed Networking Session
Get to know your peers right from the start with our pre-conference networking session. This informal session allows you to be introduced directly with the people you want to meet with and sets the scene for a productive Competition & Trade Practices Summit.

9.20am Opening remarks from the Chair

KEYNOTE SESSIONS THE TRADE PRACTICES ACT

9.25am
KEYNOTE : ACCC address
Sarah Court, Commissioner, Australian Competition & Consumer Commission

10.05am
KEYNOTE: THE TRADE PRACTICES ACT (TPA) IN AUSTRALIA

• Defining competition in the context of the TPA
• The importance of competition and its maintenance within any market
• Understanding the overriding objectives of the TPA
• How is the act designed to ensure these key objectives are met?
• Examining the evolution of the TPA to its current incarnation

Russell V Miller AM, Partner, Minter Ellison

10.45am Networking & refreshment break

11.15am
THE IMPACT OF REFORM AN INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

• How will the reforms to the TPA affect the approach of industry to commercial activity?
• Determining the industries most likely to feel the impact of the current incarnation of the TPA
• Examining the new compliance challenges created by reform
• Implications for executives operating across multiple geographical regions

David Lieberman, Principal, David Lieberman & Associates

COMPETITION & MARKET POWER

11.55am
DEFINING MARKET POWER & THE CONDITIONS FOR MISUSE

• How does an organisation define the market within which it operates?
• Understanding the variety of markets within which your organisation competes
• Market power do you have it? How do you misuse it?
• Case study examples of market power misuse
• Ensuring your actions are low risk being aware of behaviour that will be questioned

Professor Stephen Corones, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology

12.35pm Extended networking lunch break

2.00pm
EVALUATING THE INTRICACIES OF PREDATORY PRICING

• Reviewing the precise definition of predatory pricing
• What are the key characteristics that make a pricing policy predatory?
• At what point does a pricing scheme become anti-competitive?
• Understanding the difficulties of defining the market and the importance of it
• Examining examples of where predatory pricing has been proven to exist

Michael Corrigan, Partner Competition, Clayton Utz

MANAGING INVESTIGATIONS & OUTCOMES

2.40pm
STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE INTERACTION WITH THE ACCC

• Examining what is important to the ACCC when approaching a company it is investigating
• Fundamental behavioural mistakes organisations make when discovering they are subject to an investigation by the ACCC
• Outlining ineffective argument routes how certain arguments may be interpreted
• Managing your responses throughout the investigation process
• Media management post investigation press release strategies

Michael Terceiro, Principal, Terceiro Legal Consulting

3.20pm Networking & refreshment break

3.50pm
DEALING WITH ACCC INVESTIGATIONS

• Understanding the processes involved in an ACCC investigation
• Developing strategies for how you deal with the ACCC
• How can the style and timing of your interactions impact on the whole process?
• Managing the process internally and the impact it can have on staff and morale
• Maintaining external relationships and expectations throughout the process
• Looking at the impact on customers and clients
• Media management

Wendy Peter, Partner, Allens Arthur Robinson

4.30pm
THE INTERPRETATION OF 'UNDERSTANDING' IN SECTION 45 OF THE TPA

• Determining the current interpretation of understanding
• Parallel conduct, tacit coordination and collusion - what proves an understanding
• Does the current interpretation limit the TPA in addressing anticompetitive practice?
• What would be the potential impact of its revision?
• Reviewing how similar concerted conduct has been dealt with overseas - and in particular, indirect price fixing

Richard Flitcroft, Partner, Corrs Chambers Westgarth

5.10pm Closing remarks from the Chair

5.15pm Networking drinks

CONFERENCE DAY TWO - Friday 13th March, 2009

8.30am Welcome coffee

9.00am Opening remarks from the Chair

EXAMINING CARTELS & CARTEL REFORMS

9.10am
OUTLINING CARTEL REFORMS & THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR ORGANISATIONS OPERATING IN AUSTRALIA

• Understanding recent cartel reforms and the implications for the individual and organisation
• The criminalisation of cartel behaviour what impact will it have?
• Reviewing the international implications of the new cartel regulations
• Examining current investigations underway under new cartel legislation
• Evaluating the impact of reform on the market and commercial activity in Australia

Dr Caron Beaton-Wells, Director of Studies, Competition Law, University of Melbourne

9.50am
THE IMPACT OF CRIMINAL SANCTIONS FOR CORPORATE OFFICERS

• Outlining the criminal sanctions corporate officers are now exposed to
• How the introduction of criminal sanctions impacts the investigation process
• Understanding the process how will it affect you and your organisation?
  Clarifying the full implications as the process unfolds
  Negotiating the avoidable pitfalls
  Dealing with the regulators and the prosecutors throughout
• Managing the impact of prosecution on the organisation and the individual

Jan Redfern, Trade Practices Consultant, Sparke Helmore

10.30am Networking & refreshment break

11.00am
DETAILING THE UNEXPECTED CIVIL IMPLICATIONS OF CARTEL REFORM

• Analysing the unanticipated impacts of the new cartel reforms
• The potential flow-on effects of the civil aspects of the reforms that will affect business
• What does your business need to be aware of?
• Understanding what agreements you may have in place that could be impacted
• How should your business respond if they identify exposure to this risk?
• Future reform the importance of working with industry to avoid unintended implications

Stephen Ridgeway, Partner, Blake Dawson

11.40am
IDENTIFYING & MINIMISING CARTEL RISK WITHIN YOUR ORGANISATION

• Understanding how the ACCC identifies cartel behaviour
• Conducting a cartel audit of your organisation
• How to recognise a cartel red flags
• Identifying industry structures and commercial activities that increase the risk of cartel formation
• A methodology for identifying high risk conduct within your business
• Creating a risk management protocol to prevent collusive behaviour

Murray Deakin, Partner, Middletons

MERGER GUIDELINES & CONSUMER PROTECTION

12.20pm
EXAMINING NEW MERGER GUIDELINES& THEIR IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

• Understanding the proposed revisions to the mergers guidelines in relation to the TPA
• Creating a more sophisticated model for merger analysis in Australia
• What impact will the reforms have for the business communities understanding of the process?
• Will businesses accurately anticipate the level of scrutiny they will receive?
• Strategies for ensuring appropriate competition due diligence is conducted for all mergers and acquisitions under the new legislative regime

Dave Poddar, Partner, Mallesons Stephen Jaques

1.00pm Lunch & networking break

2.00pm
CONSUMER REFORMS THE EMERGING ISSUES THAT WILL IMPACT YOUR BUSINESS

• Understanding the implications of the new component pricing laws
• Ensuring consumers are aware of the total product cost from the start
• How will it impact the way businesses market their products to consumers?
• Examining the focus on green marketing by the ACCC
• What green marketing is how it is being interpreted as misleading for the consumer
• Understanding what you need to avoid to stay clear of the regulators

Geoff Taperell, Partner, DLA Phillips Fox

2.40pm
SECTION 53E WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN?

• Avoiding misleading advertising learning from the mistakes of others
• Understanding when your organisation or your competitor is in breach of Section 53(e)
• Reviewing real world cases of misleading advertising
  • What are the key mistakes that have been made?
  • Repetitive mistakes why dont companies learn?
• Ensuring companies learn for the future helping to stop misleading behaviour

Dr Ronald Desiatnik, Editor, Trade Practices Law Journal, Thomson Reuters

3.20pm
INTERACTIVE HYPOTHETICAL: ANALYSING AN ACCC INVESTIGATION POST CRIMINALISATION

• This session will seek to enable the audience to discuss and explore the finer points of the TPA cartel reforms. Both sides will be represented in the discussion and will be moderated by an expert who will lead the debate through all of the crucial points of the arguments, the likely response by the ACCC, and the potential outcome implications for the organisations involved.

4.20pm Closing remarks from the Chair

4.25pm Conference close