The training on the role of data and innovation for competition and competition concerns in the air transport was held on 11-13 July 2018 at RIU Pravets Golf & SPA Resort, Pravets. 13 national judges attended the training.
The final event of the CONNECTOR Series provided the link with the third main ‘non-economic’ rationale of the evolving competition policy, namely data. The judges learnt about the importance of data as an input for innovation and disruptive entry and discussed the various data-related competition concerns in the data-driven economy and the essential facilities doctrine and its applicability to data.
The training focused on the complex relationships revealed by the interplay between data protection, consumer protection law and competition law, presented by Ivo Emanuilov and Dr. Inge Graef. In addition, the importance of the digital price comparison tools for transparency in the digital sector was also presented.
The second part of the training, led by Dr. Miroslava Marinova and atty. Stamatis Varsamos, paid attention to the airline industry as a case study typical of its international nature, strict rules and paramount competition issues. Through these lens, this part considered airport charges, market power and abuse of dominance, vertical relations between airports and airlines, airline competition and the impact of dynamic pricing algorithms.
According to participants’ feedback, the strongest accents in the training were the timing of the event with respect to the hot topics an case studies discussed, and speakers' expertise and experience. The quality of the training materials and the overall event organisation were also positively assessed.
