On April 30, the Luxembourg competition authority welcomed Laura Méndez, a non-governmental advisor, for a lunchtime session to review the 11th ICN Unilateral Conduct Working Group Workshop held in Rio from March 12 to 14, 2025.

This year's workshop, organized by the International Competition Network (ICN), focused on the challenges of applying competition law to unilateral conduct in digital markets, with a special emphasis on the impact of artificial intelligence. Key topics were discussed in plenary sessions and panels, including the definition of digital markets, self-preferencing practices, and the role of data as a competitive parameter.

During her presentation, Laura Méndez highlighted several critical issues addressed in the sessions she attended, such as the future of digital markets in the context of artificial intelligence and competition law, unilateral conduct and AI, ongoing enforcement of self-preferencing practices by competition authorities, the effectiveness of corrective measures, the role of data in competition, unilateral behaviors by public companies or in regulated markets, resale price maintenance practices in e-commerce, and the regulation of digital markets.

This informative session brought together the presidency, several members of the College, as well as legal and economic experts from the Competition and Online Platforms services, allowing for a discussion on various topics of interest relevant to the daily work of the authority.

The ICN Unilateral Conduct Working Group Workshop is part of the ICN, an international private organization established in 2001 that currently includes 141 national competition authorities worldwide. The ICN serves as a discussion forum on competition law enforcement issues, aiming to promote convergence between competition laws and policies and cooperation among enforcement authorities to enhance the effectiveness of international regulation.

To achieve these goals, ICN members are divided into five working groups focusing on cartels, unilateral conduct, merger control, competition awareness, and the operational methods of competition authorities. The Unilateral Conduct Working Group examines the challenges related to analyzing the unilateral conduct of dominant firms and those with significant market power, aiming to facilitate a better understanding of the issues raised by such conduct and promote greater convergence and more effective enforcement of regulations governing unilateral conduct.