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Overview
On March 24, 2026, the GW Competition Law Center hosted Antitrust Enforcement Trends: International Cooperation at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC. The event convened a distinguished panel of enforcement officials, international organization representatives, and technical assistance practitioners for a roundtable discussion on the current state and future direction of international cooperation in antitrust enforcement.
Held in the Tasher Great Room from 9 to 11 am, the Forum brought together seven speakers representing a remarkable breadth of institutional perspectives: the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP), the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the competition authorities of Paraguay and Costa Rica. The discussion was moderated by Professor William E. Kovacic, Director of the GW Competition Law Center.
The event was part of a landmark week of programming at the GW Competition Law Center, which also included the inaugural Washington Forum on Antitrust and Digital Markets (March 23), the 5th Annual Forum on Competition Law in Developing Countries – Latin America (March 26), and the 2nd Annual GW Competition Law Center Africa Forum (March 27). Together, these four events demonstrated the Center’s expanding role as a nexus for global competition policy discourse.
Panelists
The roundtable was moderated by William E. Kovacic, Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy and Director of the Competition Law Center at the George Washington University Law School. A former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (2008–2009), Professor Kovacic has extensive experience in competition policy design and institutional development, particularly in developing and transitional economies.
Speakers
- Eduardo Barros, Chairman of the Board, National Competition Commission (CONACOM), Paraguay
Eduardo Barros, Chairman of the Board, National Competition Commission (CONACOM), Paraguay. Barros has served on the CONACOM Board since 2021, bringing prior experience from senior leadership roles across Paraguayan regulatory institutions, including the presidency of the National Telecommunications Commission and the Sanitary Services Regulatory Entity. Under his leadership, CONACOM has continued to build its enforcement capacity in one of Latin America’s newer competition jurisdictions.
- Viviana Blanco, Former Chairwoman, Commission for the Promotion of Competition (COPROCOM), Costa Rica
Viviana Blanco, Former Chairwoman, Commission for the Promotion of Competition (COPROCOM), Costa Rica. Blanco is an economist with over 15 years of experience in competition policy, including previous roles at Mexico’s Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE) and the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT). As Chairwoman of COPROCOM, she focused on strengthening Costa Rica’s competition framework and ensuring compliance with OECD commitments.
Hana Hosny, Competition Law and Public Procurement Analyst, The World Bank. Hosny works at the intersection of competition law and public procurement policy, contributing to the World Bank’s technical assistance and analytical work on competition frameworks in developing economies.- Leah McCoy, International Counsel, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Leah McCoy, International Counsel, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice. McCoy has served at the DOJ since 2008, with experience in criminal cartel prosecution and merger litigation before joining the International Section. She has played a leading role in international enforcement cooperation efforts, including the development of ICN guidance on cross-border leniency cooperation.
- Adam Al Sarraf, Senior Counsel, Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP), U.S. Department of Commerce
Adam Al Sarraf, Senior Counsel, Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP), U.S. Department of Commerce. Al Sarraf oversees CLDP’s Latin America and Caribbean team, managing technical assistance programs to improve legal and institutional frameworks for competition, public procurement, and trade facilitation. He also serves as a guest lecturer in public procurement at GW Law and Fordham University School of Law.
- Mario Umaña, Trade and Competition Consultant, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Mario Umaña, Trade and Competition Consultant, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Umaña has served as Lead Trade and Competition Specialist at the IDB since 2001, coordinating the Bank’s integration and trade work in the Caribbean and leading technical support for competition policy across Latin America. He holds a Doctor of Juridical Science degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
Discussion Themes
The roundtable discussion explored the multifaceted dimensions of international cooperation in antitrust enforcement, drawing on the diverse institutional perspectives represented on the panel. The conversation covered the current landscape of cross-border enforcement, the role of international organizations in building competition capacity, and the evolving challenges facing cooperation frameworks.
- The Landscape of Cross-Border Enforcement Cooperation
The discussion opened with an exploration of the current state of international cooperation in antitrust enforcement. McCoy provided the U.S. enforcement perspective, discussing the Antitrust Division’s approach to cross-border cooperation in both criminal cartel prosecutions and civil merger investigations. She discussed the mechanisms through which the DOJ coordinates with foreign counterparts, including mutual legal assistance treaties, agency-to-agency cooperation agreements, and the practical day-to-day coordination that underpins effective cross-border enforcement.
The discussion emphasized that as markets become increasingly global, anticompetitive conduct rarely respects national borders. International cartels, cross-border mergers, and the global operations of dominant firms all require competition authorities to work together effectively. Panelists discussed both the progress that has been made in building cooperation frameworks—through institutions like the International Competition Network (ICN) and the OECD Competition Committee—and the practical challenges that remain.
- Technical Assistance and Capacity Building
A central theme of the discussion was the role of international organizations and technical assistance programs in building competition enforcement capacity, particularly in developing economies. The panel brought together an unusually rich set of perspectives on this topic, with representatives from the World Bank, the IDB, and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s CLDP all offering insights into their respective approaches.
Hosny discussed the World Bank’s work at the intersection of competition law and public procurement, noting that weaknesses in competition frameworks can undermine the integrity and efficiency of public procurement processes—a critical concern in countries where government procurement represents a significant share of GDP. The Bank’s analytical work helps countries identify where competition barriers exist and develop targeted reforms.
Umaña provided the IDB’s perspective on competition policy development in Latin America and the Caribbean, drawing on over two decades of experience supporting competition authorities across the region. He discussed the Bank’s role in providing technical support to both established and newer competition agencies, including assistance with institutional design, legislative reform, and enforcement capacity.
Al Sarraf described CLDP’s approach to technical assistance, which focuses on improving legal and institutional frameworks for competition alongside related areas such as public procurement and trade facilitation. He discussed the program’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean, where CLDP provides training and advisory support to help countries develop more effective competition regimes.
- Perspectives from Latin American Enforcers
Barros and Blanco provided valuable on-the-ground perspectives from two Latin American competition authorities at different stages of development. Barros discussed Paraguay’s experience with CONACOM, which was established in 2015 under Law No. 4956/2013—making it one of the region’s newest competition authorities. He shared insights on the challenges of building an effective enforcement institution from the ground up, including the need for technical capacity, institutional independence, and public awareness of competition policy.
Blanco drew on her experience at Costa Rica’s COPROCOM, as well as her prior roles at Mexico’s COFECE and IFT, to offer a comparative perspective on competition enforcement across the region. She discussed the particular challenges and opportunities facing smaller competition authorities, including the need to prioritize enforcement actions strategically, build relationships with international counterparts, and leverage technical assistance from international organizations.
Both enforcers emphasized the importance of international cooperation—not only for cross-border case coordination but also for knowledge sharing, peer learning, and the development of enforcement best practices that can be adapted to local conditions.
- Leniency Programs and Cartel Enforcement
The discussion devoted significant attention to international cooperation in cartel enforcement, including the critical role of leniency programs. McCoy discussed the DOJ’s leniency program and the challenges of coordinating leniency applications across jurisdictions—a topic on which she has contributed to ICN guidance. The discussion explored how competition authorities can work together to facilitate parallel investigations, manage the timing of enforcement actions, and ensure that confidentiality protections do not become barriers to effective cooperation.
Panelists discussed the growing importance of leniency programs in Latin America, where several countries have adopted or strengthened their cartel detection and enforcement frameworks in recent years. The conversation also touched on the challenges that smaller or newer competition authorities face in building credible leniency programs, including the need for legal certainty, procedural transparency, and a track record of effective enforcement.
- Institutional Design and Cooperation Frameworks
Kovacic guided the discussion toward broader questions of institutional design and the architecture of international cooperation. Drawing on his extensive experience advising competition agencies, he explored how the design of cooperation frameworks—bilateral agreements, regional networks, multilateral institutions—affects their effectiveness in practice. He emphasized that successful cooperation depends not only on formal legal instruments but on the relationships, trust, and shared understandings that develop through sustained engagement between agencies.
The discussion also addressed the evolving role of international organizations in supporting cooperation. Panelists noted that the ICN, the OECD Competition Committee, UNCTAD, and regional bodies all play important but distinct roles in facilitating cross-border cooperation and supporting the development of competition enforcement capacity. The challenge, several panelists noted, is ensuring that these various mechanisms complement rather than duplicate one another.
Key Themes and Takeaways
Several recurring themes emerged across the discussion:
International cooperation is essential, not optional. In an era of increasingly globalized markets, effective competition enforcement requires sustained cross-border cooperation. Panelists from across the institutional spectrum—enforcement agencies, international organizations, and technical assistance providers—agreed that cooperation frameworks must continue to evolve to keep pace with the cross-border nature of anticompetitive conduct.
Capacity building is a prerequisite for meaningful cooperation. The contributions from the World Bank, IDB, and CLDP underscored that international cooperation is most effective when all parties have adequate institutional capacity. For developing country competition authorities, technical assistance—in areas ranging from institutional design to investigative techniques to leniency program development—is essential for enabling meaningful participation in cross-border cooperation.
Smaller authorities face distinct challenges. The perspectives from Paraguay and Costa Rica highlighted that smaller competition authorities must be strategic about how they allocate their limited resources, including in the area of international cooperation. These agencies benefit significantly from peer learning, technical assistance, and engagement with international networks, but must balance these activities against domestic enforcement priorities.
The competition–procurement nexus deserves attention. The World Bank’s focus on the intersection of competition law and public procurement highlighted an important area where competition enforcement can have significant development impact. Ensuring competitive procurement processes is essential for effective use of public resources, and competition authorities have a key role to play in identifying and addressing bid rigging and other anticompetitive practices in government procurement.
Relationships and trust underpin formal cooperation mechanisms. A recurring theme was that effective cooperation depends as much on personal relationships and institutional trust as on formal legal agreements. Events like this Forum—which bring together enforcers and practitioners from different jurisdictions and institutional backgrounds—play an important role in building the informal networks that support formal cooperation.