USCIB’s Competition Committee held its fall meeting on October 28 in a virtual format due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Following welcome and introductory remarks by Dina Kallay (Ericsson) and Jennifer Patterson (Arnold & Porter), Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee, respectively, the group received an update on the upcoming meetings of the OECD Competition Committee from John Taladay (Baker Botts), Chair of the Business at OECD (“BIAC”) Competition Committee, and on the current work of the ICC Competition Commission from USCIB Senior Director for Trade, Investment, and Financial Services Eva Hampl.

The meeting featured Alexander Okuliar, deputy assistant attorney general, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), as the main speaker. Okuliar recently returned to the DOJ following two decades at both federal antitrust agencies and the private sector, and is responsible for civil merger and conduct investigations and litigation. He delivered remarks to USCIB members that included the DOJ’s recent work regarding competition in digital markets; the recent DOJ Business Review Letter to IEEE; and China, including due process challenges in China’s antimonopoly agencies and the new China Standards 2035 policy. Following his remarks, DAAG Okuliar engaged in an open Q&A session with committee members.

The Committee, under the direction of Kallay also discussed various issues of concern, including on advocacy for international convergence re compliance. Finally, Lisa Kimmel (Crowell & Moring) provided the group an update of the recent report of the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative law, on the Investigation of Competition in Digital Markets.