ICN-WBG Competition Advocacy Contest
  • Washington D.C.

The International Competition Network (ICN) and the World Bank Group are pleased to announce the launch of the 2019 – 2020 Competition Advocacy Contest. This contest aims to highlight the key role competition agencies, sector regulators and other governmental bodies or non-governmental organizations play in promoting competition by showcasing their advocacy success stories.

As defined by the ICN, competition advocacy refers to activities that promote a competitive environment through non-enforcement mechanisms, such as building relationships with government entities, increasing public awareness of competition’s benefits and identifying and removing anti-competitive policies and regulations.

To get more exciting opportunities like this, at your fingertips, install the Youth Opportunities Mobile App here from your cellphone.

They are looking for success stories from competition agencies, other public bodies or civil society that demonstrate the tangible results of competition advocacy regarding:

Theme 1: Unleashing competition for more and better jobs

Globalization and technological change have been labeled as contributors to the recent fall in the labor share of income and concerns regarding the capacity of economies to generate jobs have led to public demands for reviewing market-based policies. In this context, competition authorities may be called to consider in their enforcement and advocacy actions objectives such as the protection of labor income or labor-intensive sectors. This is an opportunity for authorities to show how competition can open markets, stimulate growth and create more and better (higher productivity) jobs.

Theme 2: Aligning industrial policies with competition principles

Competition authorities are often confronted with government plans or initiatives to boost the competitiveness of a sector by creating national champions, granting state aid, reinforcing the presence of state-owned enterprises, and protecting nascent or strategic industries. In a context where policymakers may regard competition rules as an obstacle to the implementation of industrial policies, competition authorities face the challenges of advocating the complementary role of these two tools, demonstrating how competition principles can increase the effectiveness of such policies.

Theme 3: Promoting pro-competition data regulation

Data has become a strategic variable in the digital economy, particularly when used as a key input for market participation, innovation, and expansion. New rules related to the use of data need to account for not only the concerns related to consumer protection and data privacy but also the need to provide access and interoperability between market players. In this context, competition advocacy can help policymakers define principles to inform data regulation and identify how to ensure that markets that rely on data remain contestable.

Theme 4: Boosting policy effectiveness through better coordination between enforcement and advocacy

Both competition law enforcement and advocacy have a critical and mutually reinforcing role in achieving pro-competitive market outcomes. Competition agencies may launch enforcement actions following an advocacy initiative if it was not enough to overcome market failures. At the same time, competition agencies may expand the impact of their enforcement actions by proposing pro-active advocacy initiatives.

An independent panel will review the submissions and select the top stories. And winners and honorable mentions will be announced by March 31th, 2020.

Location:

Online

Benefits

  • Winning applicants will be invited to present their stories at a joint ICN-World Bank Group event
  • Winning stories will be featured in an ICN-World Bank Group Publication.

Eligibilities

  • Competition agencies, sector regulators and other government bodies and non-governmental organizations promoting competition policy are welcome to apply.
  • If you are not a member of the ICN, you should reach out to the ICN member in your jurisdiction to inform about your intention to participate in the contest. A list of all ICN members is available here.
  • Joint submissions from ICN members and government bodies or non-governmental organizations are encouraged.

Submitted stories must include:

  • Summary;
  • The competition issue under assessment;
  • The strategy used to address the competition issue;
  • The main messages and recommendations conveyed by the activity;
  • The results of the initiative;
  • The actual or expected socioeconomic impacts of the initiative.

Stories submitted to previous editions of the contest that were not awarded are eligible for resubmission.

Eligible Regions: Open For All

Application Process

Please apply through the Apply Now link.

To get more exciting opportunities like this, at your fingertips, install the Youth Opportunities Mobile App here from your cellphone.

Application Deadline: December 20, 2019

Application ClosedOfficial link

For Further Queries

Please contact Guilherme de Aguiar Falco with any questions at [email protected].
Disclaimer: Youth Opportunities spreads opportunities for your convenience and ease based on available information, and thus, does not take any responsibility of unintended alternative or inaccurate information. As this is not the official page, we recommend you to visit the official website of opportunity provider for complete information. For organizations, this opportunity is shared with sole purpose of promoting “Access to Information” for all and should not be associated with any other purposes.

Log in with your credentials

Forgot your details?