Regulator of the Month: Sofia Alves, Portuguese Competition Authority
I am delighted to confirm that our second contributor of this type is Sofia Alves from the Portugese Competition Authority.
Q: Sofia, many thanks for taking the time to be our featured In-House Counsel/Regulator of the Month. Please tell our readers a bit about yourself and your background.
A: I am currently heading the Cabinet of the President of the Portuguese Competition Authority in Lisbon. I have a legal background and I have been working with European law and Competition law since 1995, when I left Lisbon to study in the College of Europe, in Bruges. And what was supposed to be a short stay in Belgium, ended being a lifetime. I worked in Luxembourg and Brussels for 20 years. I worked five years at the General Court in Luxembourg as a referendaire of the then Portuguese judge, Rui Moura Ramos. And being a referendaire was probably the toughest legal job I ever had. I then joined the European Commission in 2003, DG Competition, where I worked in a variety of fields of competition law, including dealing with antitrust and mergers in different sectors. During that time, I also spent three years in the Cabinet of Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, where I advised the then Competition Commissioner in the areas of cartels, anti-trust and merger control. My latest position in DG COMP was as Head of Unit of the European Competition Network, liaising with the national competition authorities and coordinating the work of the network.
Q: You have previously worked in a variety of roles, these were predominately at the Commission and were working within the field of competition law but what aspect of competition law interests you most?
A: It’s difficult to say because I like it all. I really loved working in merger control because it is fast paced; one gets to know a variety of industries and markets and to meet really stimulating people. There is a lot of adrenalin involved. And I also became very fond of cartel enforcement, which is obviously very different from merger work. I was advising Comissioner Joaquín Almunia on cartel enforcement at a time when there were a lot of calls from the business community and the political ranks in Europe, for the Commission and Competition Authorities to be softer on enforcement and, in particular, when imposing fines. We were in 2010, the economic crisis was hitting hard and companies were claiming in Brussels that competition enforcement risked driving them out of business. We had to take some important decisions on how to go about the different issues, and even if some adjustment measures were found to cater for the most difficult situations, we did maintain a strong and consistent enforcement. I believe this was crucial to send the message that at times of economic crisis, the economy and consumers need more competition enforcement rather than less; that competition is the best friend of innovation, economic growth and the only way out of economic crisis.
Q: You moved on from your former role in the European Commission to become Chief of Staff at the Portuguese Competition Authority. What motivated you to do so?
A: During the period I worked with the ECN, I had the chance to work closely with the Portuguese Competition Authority, which struck me because of their level of expertise and quality of their work. I dealt with them in the context of the ECN but also in the framework of the Adjustment Programme for Portugal. Competition enforcement was on the spot for reform in my country and a lot of regulatory changes took place to revamp competition law and to render the Competition Authority more independent and better equipped. Shortly after, Antonio Gomes , with whom I had worked before and very much appreciate, was appointed President of the Authority, and together with him a new board. This was followed by an internal re-organization and the appointment of a revamped and dynamic team and I was invited to be part of such a project.
As Chief of Staff, one has a broader range of issues that go beyond the competition cases. On top of assisting and advising the Board on all sorts of issues, the Cabinet is in charge of Communication and Press, International relations – and the Portuguese Competition Authority is extremely active in the international arena. We liaise with other institutions in Portugal, such as the Government, the Parliament. We are also in charge of events, as for example, the organization of the Lisbon Conference, which took place in October of this year. The Authority will also be hosting the ICN annual meeting in 2017: a big event.
For me, it’s absolutely motivating to be part of such a team, I’m expanding my knowledge and competences and the team is very professional and motivated. And on the personal side, being back home and living in Lisbon is just a dream!
Q: How do you think competition policy has changed since you have been working within the field?
A: I would say it has changed a lot! I would underline two main changes: one is that the role of economics and of economic analysis is incomparable to what we did before. When I arrived in DG Competition, Commissioner Mario Monti had just created the role of Chief Economist and the CET team was in their baby stage. Thirteen years later, we can hardly remember life before the “more effects based approach” age. To some, economists are just a hurdle in the process; to me they have enlarged my – competition – world and coloured it.
As we all know, with the expansion of technology and the internet, our world has severely changed. And Competition Authorities are now confronted with a business reality which can be very different, that moves very fast and with business models leveraged on networks of consumers and riding on network effects. Adapting enforcement of competition law and policy to such markets is not an easy task: one does not want to intervene too early and stop innovation, especially not at this juncture of the economy, but one also needs to be aware that some business practices may put markets on the wrong track, slow innovation and the entry of new players. The new entrants of today can be the perpetrators of the future and understanding when the turning point can happen is an immense challenge.
Q: Finally, are there any changes/cases/developments you think people involved in Competition Law or impacted by it should watch out for?
A: There are two areas in which I believe we will see evolvements in the future: private damages, obviously accelerated by the adoption of the EU Directive; and more “exchange of information” issues. I think this is a difficult area for companies and also for Competition Authorities to position themselves. And both will have to try and err before finding the right way.
The first "In-House Counsel/Regulator of the Month" was Nelson Jung, the Director of Mergers from the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK. Read his post here.
