Philippines – Christopher Louie Ocampo’s MCLE Lecture On Competition Law.

Christopher Louie D. Ocampo, Senior Associate at ACCRALAW, delivered a lecture on Competition Law to ACCRALAW lawyers as part of their Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE).

 

Mr. Ocampo started his lecture with a brief background on the general concepts of competition law and its economic underpinnings. He then gave an overview of the Philippine Competition Act (PCA), the powers and functions of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), and the prohibited acts under the law (Anti-Competitive Agreements, Abuse of Dominant Position, and Anti-Competitive Mergers and Acquisitions).
 

Mr. Ocampo also discussed updates on procedure and practice, focusing on updates since the start of the pandemic. These include the adjustment of thresholds for compulsory notification of M&A transactions; merger review exemptions under the Bayanihan 2 Law; the rules exempting public-private JVs and unsolicited PPPs from compulsory merger notification; and the adjustment of fines for violations of the PCA, the PCC’s Rules of Procedure, and the Rules of Merger Procedure.
 

He concluded his lecture with a snapshot of patterns and trends in the enforcement of competition law in the Philippines from 2016 up to the present. He noted that despite the pandemic, the PCC still received 26 M&A notifications in 2020 with an aggregate transaction value of PhP 909 billion. He highlighted that the PCC currently seeks focus its competition analysis and enforcement on e-commerce, health and pharmaceuticals, insurance, logistics and shipping, energy and electricity, water supply and distribution, real estate, and food.
 

Mr. Ocampo is part of the roster of MCLE lecturers of the Institute for the Administration of Justice of the University of the Philippines Law Center. He studied competition law at the University of Oxford, and is currently undergoing a special course on Competition Policy in the Digital Age under the auspices of the World Bank Philippines.
 

Mr. Ocampo’s practice areas include competition law litigation and advice, among others.
 

 

For further information, please contact:  

 

accra@accralaw.com