Adherence to ICN Guidance on Investigative Process: A Practitioner Survey

For the fourth consecutive year a practitioner survey has been conducted to solicit feedback intended to better inform competition authorities and the International Competition Network (ICN) of the views and experiences practitioners have when working with their respective competition authority. Earlier surveys supported the work of the ICN’s Investigative Process Project as part of the Agency Effectiveness Working Group as well as the ICN’s Recommended Practices for Merger Notification and Review Procedures.

This survey is on the ICN Guidance on the Investigative Process issued in 2015. That guidance addressed an agency’s investigative tools, transparency about policies and standards, transparency during investigations, engagement during investigations, and confidentiality and legal privileges. It addition to questions about adherence to the guidance, questions also solicited suggestions on important next steps the ICN might consider taking and what, if anything, specific jurisdictions should do to improve adherence.

Survey respondents were invited to submit their responses through a confidential, on-line interface. The survey was conducted between August and December of 2016. More than 1,500 practitioners were invited to respond across 14 jurisdictions. More than 240 practitioners took part from the following jurisdictions: Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Interestingly analysis of responses across the entire data set did not indicate any statistically significant differences based on the practitioners’ years of experience or prior work in a competition agency.

We thank the practitioners who participated in this survey and hope the results highlight areas for discussion between the practitioner community and enforcement authorities.

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