Belgian Competition Authority Welcomes Two New Members for Its Competition College
- 30/04/2024
- News
On 26 April 2024, the federal Council of Ministers appointed Chloé Binet and Damien Neven as new members of the competition college (Mededingingscollege/Collège de la concurrence) of the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) (see, attachments). The competition college is the decision-making body of the BCA which acts in major cases on the basis of an investigation carried out by a competition prosecutor. Mr. Neven was also designated as the deputy President of the BCA which implies that he will preside over the competition college if the President (who was himself appointed to his post only two months ago – see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 1 March 2024) is unavailable or has to recuse himself because of a conflict of interest. This is expected to happen if and when the alleged cartel with regard to the distribution of newspapers, currently under investigation, reaches the competition college.
The new appointments inject a further dose of both governmental experience and competition expertise in the BCA. Mr. Neven has been the Chief Economist of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition (DG Comp) between 2006 and 2011 and is a prominent academic, at present Professor of Economics at The Graduate Institute, Geneva. He joins several other former DG Comp officials at the BCA, including chief prosecutor Damien Gerard and fellow competition college member Luc Gyselen.
Ms. Binet is a young but experienced competition lawyer with a PhD in EU competition law earned from the Université Catholique de Louvain
