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Politico Morning Tech – News of Dirk Auer’s promotion to become ICLE’s director of competition policy was picked up by the Politico Morning Tech newsletter. The full edition is available here.

Dirk Auer has been promoted to director of competition policy at the International Center for Law & Economics, where he’ll work on competition and antitrust issues in the U.S., U.K. and Europe.

 

BRUSSELS, Belgium (10 January 2022) — As representatives of the European Parliament, Council and Commission prepare to convene Tuesday to discuss the draft Digital Markets Act (DMA) during one of their regular “trilogue” meetings, scholars with the International Centre for Law & Economics (ICLE) are available to discuss the proceedings and changes to the DMA that may prove necessary.  

According to ICLE Director of Competition Policy Dirk Auer, lawmakers should use tomorrow’s discussions to address the many problems that still loom over the draft DMA. Chief among these is the risk of regulatory fragmentation, as several Member States legislators have adopted overlapping regulations in this area. 

The result is a costly web of regulation with which firms may find it impossible to comply, Auer said, adding that these costs will be passed on to consumers.

“Policymakers’ stated goal is to bring faster regulatory proceedings in digital markets. But the draft DMA’s vague provisions will produce countless court proceedings that will slow down rather than accelerate enforcement,” Auer said. 

As doubts persist over the soundness of ex ante regulations such as the DMA, Auer said it is crucial that lawmakers avoid this outcome by creating a one-stop shop for digital compliance in Europe.

“There is scant evidence digital platforms are prone to market failures that might warrant ex ante regulation”,  Auer said. “There is thus little reason to believe the benefits of such regulations would outweigh the significant cost they would impose on innovation and consumer welfare.”

Media interested in interviewing Dirk Auer about this subject may reach him at [email protected] or +32 4729 38401.

Competition Policy International – News Dirk Auer’s promotion to become ICLE’s director of competition policy was picked up by the Competition Policy International website. The full piece is available here.

The International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) today announced that Dirk Auer has been promoted to the position of director of competition policy. In this role, Dirk will manage the center’s work on competition and antitrust issues in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and abroad.

PORTLAND, Ore. (Jan. 7, 2022) — The International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) today announced that Dirk Auer has been promoted to the position of director of competition policy. In this role, Dirk will manage the center’s work on competition and antitrust issues in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and abroad.

Originally joining ICLE in October 2018, Dirk has served for the past three years as a senior fellow in law & economics, with an emphasis on antitrust, digital markets, and European competition law. 

“Dirk has proven himself an outstanding scholar with a nimble mind, able to apply the methodology of law & economics to a host of problems in creative ways,” ICLE President Geoffrey Manne said. “We are delighted to have him in the fold as one of the emerging voices of the next generation of law & economics scholarship.”

Among his recent scholarly work, Dirk has been co-author of “Antitrust Dystopia and Antitrust Nostalgia: Alarmist Theories of Harm in Digital Markets and Their Origins” for the George Mason Law Review;  “Encouraging AI Adoption by EU SMEs” for the Progressive Policy Institute; “Should ASEAN Antitrust Laws Emulate European Competition Policy?,” forthcoming in the Singapore Economic Review; and “Technology Mergers and the Market for Corporate Control,” forthcoming in the Missouri Law Review. 

Dirk takes over the leadership of ICLE’s competition policy program from Samuel Bowman, who will continue on as an ICLE affiliate as he pursues other interests. 

“For both good and for ill, we find ourselves in 2022 in an exciting time for competition policy,” Auer said. “European policymakers have shown renewed interest in using competition law to achieve a host of political ends, and some lawmakers and enforcers in the United States appear to be turning away from the longstanding commitment to the consumer welfare standard.”

“I look forward to my expanded role with ICLE and believe we can be a voice of clarity in these very important debates about the future of both competition and innovation,” he added.

In addition to his work with ICLE, Dirk also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Liège, where he teaches European competition law and the economics of competition law, and at the Catholic University of Louvain, where he teaches American law. 

Before joining ICLE, he worked as a research fellow at the Liège Competition and Innovation Institute (LCII) in Liège, Belgium. He also worked in the competition practices of two international law firm.

He earned his PhD in competition law and innovation from the University of Liège in 2019, writing his dissertation on the “innovation defense” in European and U.S. antitrust laws. His dissertation argued that competition enforcers should take steps to ensure that regulatory intervention does not chill firms’ incentives to innovate. 

He also completed LLMs at the University of Chicago Law School in 2014 and at the University of Liège in 2011. He received his law degree from the Catholic University of Louvain in 2010, specializing in European law.

National Review – The International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) was cited by National Review in a piece about the Surface Transportation Board’s plan to mandate reciprocal switching for freight rail. You can read the full piece here.

All things considered, the effects of rail consolidation haven’t been bad for shippers or railroads. As a brief from the International Center for Law and Economics says, “Shippers pay appropriate market rates, innovation is pursued aggressively, and infrastructure is maintained. If regulators were to act on the belief that a certain minimum number of Class I railroads is needed to foster competition, they would risk undercutting benefits to end-customers and shippers alike.”

Breitbart – ICLE Director of Competition Policy Sam Bowman was quoted by Breitbart in a story about Twitter’s decision to suspend the British news aggregator accounts @NewsForAll, @FootballForAll and @PoliticsForAll. The full story is available here.

“Sad to see the Politics for All accounts get banned,” wrote Sam Bowman, director of competition policy at the International Center for Law & Economics.

“It’s crazy how many journalists and journo-adjacent people seemed to openly hate him, just because he wasn’t part of their club. That kind of class system is one of the worst things about this country.”

Law360 – ICLE Director of Competition Policy Sam Bowman was quoted by Law360 in a story previewing competition and antitrust policy in 2022. The full story is available (behind a subscriber firewall) here.

Sam Bowman, director of competition policy at the International Center for Law & Economics, told Law360 that differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill make its potential impact even more ambiguous. But, he said, the legislation would depart significantly from existing U.S. antitrust by placing the “wellbeing of competitors over the wellbeing of consumers.”

“The bill, in an important way, emulates the kind of European approach which is much more concerned with the abuse of dominant positions and dominant companies harming competitors, rather than harming consumers,” Bowman told Law360.

In addition to forcing changes to the way the platforms work now, Bowman said, the bill runs the risk of dampening innovation, since companies will have to think twice about trying new things that could
potentially run afoul of the bill and expose them to penalties based on a percentage of their U.S. revenue.

“You may get a really significant chilling effect where it’s just not worth bothering,” he said.

MarketWatch – ICLE Director of Competition Policy Sam Bowman was quoted by MarketWatch in a story about the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority’s order blocking Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy. The full story is available here.

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority’s attempt to scotch Meta’s $400 million acquisition of online database and search engine Giphy — the first time an overseas competition agency has ordered a Big Tech company to sell an asset — raises the specter of international regulators blocking tech deals under a “veto-like” system for global competition authorities, said Sam Bowman, director of competition policy at the International Center for Law & Economics.

Communications Daily – ICLE Director of Innovation Policy Kristian Stout was quoted by Communications Daily in a story about the Federal Communications Commission’s deliberations about 6 Ghz. You can read full story (behind a subscriber firewall) here.

“We are in a holding pattern on 6 GHz for the time being,” said Kristian Stout, International Center for Law & Economics director-innovation policy.