Professional and Academic Organizations
International Competition Network
The ICN is a specialized venue for antitrust agencies from developed and developing countries to cooperatively address practical antitrust enforcement and policy issues (separate from trade or other regulatory issues) through regular contact and dialogue that will lead to convergence of laws. The ICN has working groups on particular challenges in antitrust that produce comprehensive enforcement manuals, best practices guidelines, reports, and conferences. The ICN's website also features a free document library. The ICN is informal only in the sense that, despite its exclusive focus to antitrust enforcement, it is not in itself an international governmental agency but rather a forum for intergovernmental cooperation. Membership is voluntary and open to any national or multinational competition authority entrusted with the enforcement of antitrust laws.
LIDC: International League of Competition Law
The International League of Competition Law (LIDC) is a long standing association which focuses on the study of competition (antitrust) law, intellectual property law and unfair competition, both at the national and international levels. It promotes mainly the principles of fairness and justice in competitive trade.
Competition Law Association
This is the British Group of LIDC (International League of Competition Law), and it also works to promote the study and discussion of the law and commercial practices affecting competition, both nationally and internationally. At the CLA website, you will find information on the Association's activites and events (including frequent training events, particularly in London), plus freely available documents representing the Association's submissions to bodies such as the European Commission, as well as other reports and studies produced by CLA.
Competition Law Scholars Forum (CLASF)
"The primary object of the Competition Law Scholars Forum is the promotion of competition law scholarship, in the United Kingdom, the Member States of the European Union, and those states who may accede to the European Union". Full membership is open to academic lecturers who have a significant antitrust focus in their work or to those who have contributed significant scholarship to the antitrust field. Anyone else can join as an associate member. CLASF has workshops and sponsors a conference.
Academic Society for Competition Law (ASCOLA)
ASCOLA was founded in Munich in November 2003 as an academic association of lawyers and economists specialised in competition law and policy. It was founded as a reaction "to the process of economic globalisation and the spread of competition law and policy all around the world", and as "an international network of academic specialists hoping to give competition an independent voice. It does not act in the interest of any profession or industry". Its purpose is to engage international competition scholars in research, and to promote younger academics.
International Chamber of Commerce: Commission on Competition
"The International Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1919 with an overriding aim that remains unchanged: to serve world business by promoting trade and investment, open markets for goods and services, and the free flow of capital". It is an "advocate for international business" that "speaks for world business whenever governments make decisions that crucially affect corporate strategies and the bottom line". It makes policy in numerous areas including competition and advocates for the insertion of those policies in national and international decision-making. To do so, it "works closely with intergovernmental organizations involved in competition policy-making, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Competition Network (ICN) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (through BIAC)". It has a "conviction that business operates most effectively with a minimum of government intervention"; thus, "Self-regulation is a common thread running through the work of [its policy] commissions". This part of its website contains the policy statements generated by the ICC's Commission on Competition in response to various actions of governments.
Federation of International Trade Associations
"FITA (The Federation of International Trade Associations) has 450 association members and 450,000 linked company members dedicated to the promotion of international trade, import-export, international logistics management, international finance and more". Its site states that it is "the most comprehensive searchable database of International Trade Web Resources on the Internet! More than 8000 links to International Trade / Import-Export Web sites are annotated and indexed". Those links cover a large number of topics, including law.
American Bar Association Antitrust Section
"The American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law is the leading professional organization for those interested in the fields of antitrust and competition law, trade regulation, consumer protection and economics....We provide an outstanding assortment of programs, publications, discussion groups and timely updates on recent developments in all facets of antitrust and consumer protection law". The ABA also provides numerous training events and conferences throughout the year.
The Canadian Bar Association's National Competition Law Section
Global Competition Forum's Directory of Professional Associations Worldwide
Links to professional antitrust associations around the world. We provide a supplemental listing below that update the broken links on the GCF's directory.
US State & Local Bar Associations
State legislation relating to antitrust, consumer protection and trade regulation is often closely followed by state and local bar associations. Use this American Bar Association map-based tool to find bar associations nationwide.
California State Bar: Antitrust and Unfair Competition Section
The Section provides attorney members with publications, CLE events, and a forum for discussion. It also hosts teleseminars and annual conferences, and hosts an "Antitrust Lawyer of the Year" award. It "provides cutting-edge perspectives on developments in California and federal antitrust law as well as insights into intellectual property, franchise and enforcement issues which affect the California antitrust practitioner" and "covers litigation, including individual actions by competitors and class actions by direct/indirect purchasers; antitrust counseling; private and government (federal, state and local) enforcement of actions as well as government criminal procedures".