In the beginning of 2009 a group of 14 lawyers with recognised professional experience in Competition Law decided to establish a debate and dissemination circle for topics related to competition law, regarding its economic and legal aspects.
Practically nine years later the Association has about 60 members, consisting of lawyers practicing in law firms, in-house counsels and lawyers with an academic career path. Thus, we managed to widen the group of original founding members and brought to the Association a new generation of experts from different backgrounds.
Along its existence the Association has regularly organised events to reflect on the application of Competition Law, both on a national level, as on an Iberian level, joined by institutional partners (as is the case for the Portuguese Competition Authority or the European Commission). In parallel, the Association participated in the project of adopting the current Legal Regime on defending Competition and initiatives of public consultation organised by the Portuguese Competition Authority.
The new Board of Directors, maintaining the adequate interaction with the Advisory Council and the remaining members, in its current composition resulting from the elections on 20 April 2017, intends to widen the intervention of the Association.
We aim to firstly incentivize the participation of a wider universe of partners in the dissemination and discussion on the most up-to-date topics of Competition Law. We are perfectly aware that the issues of Competition Law affect a large set of entities that will only benefit from a regular debate. Thus it is our intention to strengthen the cooperation with the different partners – and, from the outset, with the various public entities, such as the legislator, the Portuguese Competition Authority, sector regulators and the judiciary – in order to foster a wide discussion on the various matters within this area of Law.
Secondly, we aim to promote a more regular and easy accessible dissemination of works of members on this area of Law, furthermore of initiatives regarding the European Union Competition Law and its application in Portugal, as well as on national Competition Law. A first step in this direction is the update of the current website of the Association and the enrichment of the content available.
Thirdly, and insofar as adequate, we aim to consolidate the already existing constitutional relationships with partner organisations of CAPDC and Competition Authorities of other jurisdictions, taking into consideration that the challenges they face are, very often, similar and that the sharing of experiences will bring benefits to all. As a materialization of this aim we will organize on 25 and 26 January 2018 the IV Luso-Spanish Conference, which, for the first time, also counts on the active institutional participation of the French and Italian partner organisations of CAPDC and of judges from the European Union courts and the Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court (TCRS).
Finally, there will be an intensification of the effort to accompany the quick evolution within this area of Law and more specifically its application, and to contribute, within the strict boundaries of the powers of CAPDC, to foster this discussion forum in an area of law that is ever more present in the day-to–day of companies and citizens.