Despina Pachnou

Competition Expert at OECD

Speaker

Despina Pachnou joined the OECD in 2012, where she leads projects on competition in public procurement (www.oecd.org/competition/cartels/fightingbidrigginginpublicprocurement.htm) and conducts analysis on cartel enforcement.

She led the adoption of the Recommendations on Transparency and Procedural Fairness in Competition Law Enforcement in 2021 (https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0465) and Effective Action against Hard Core Cartels in 2019 (https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0452) and is currently negotiating the revision of the Recommendation on Fighting Bid Rigging in Public Procurement (https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0396).

Before joining the OECD, Despina was a lawyer in public procurement and project development in energy and infrastructure, and advised the Greek Chapter of Transparency International on transparency and compliance in public contracts.

Despina holds a PhD in public procurement law from the University of Nottingham and a Master’s degree in European Union law from the College of Europe in Bruges