Dear readers,

I would like to invite you to join the 48th AIJA‘s Annual Congress, which will take place from August 24^th to 28^th, in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.  In the morning of the 27^th August, I will chair one of the working sessions (“Joint Ventures and Antitrust: A Pandora Box or a Riddle of the Sphinx?”).

The session will be focusing on the anticompetitive effects of joint ventures, which are both a way to improve the company’s efficiency and a cunning way to disguise collusion. Actually, practioners always face puzziling dilemmas when it comes to advise clients, particularly for some cases involving joint ventures.

Antitrust Law has always been accused of creating uncertainty for the business world. Differently from most of the fields of law, in which legitimacy can be stated ex ante, Antitrust Law is surrounded by a shadow area which prevents a simple yes-or-no answer. These considerations are very pertinent in relation to joint ventures: they are a good means of creating efficiency, while they can also disguise collusion under the appearances of an agreement. To add difficulty to this scenario, national laws and precedents may vary from country to country, making the task of assessing the legitimacy of joint venture agreements even more complex. This leads to the following dilemma: depending on the case, one may hardly be certain what the antitrust watchdogs are thinking of the cooperation in the joint venture until it is too late!

The working session will have speakers from various jurisdictions, such as Eduardo Peréz Motta (Chairman of Comisión Federal de Competencia, Mexico City, Mexico), Olivier Antoine (Crowell & Moring, New York, USA), Aurélien Condomines (Aramis Societé d’Avocats, Paris, France) and Michael H. Byowitz (Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, USA).

I hope you can join us in Charleston!

For further information, registration and the full program, click here and visit the Congress’ website.