Preventing, detecting and prosecuting bid rigging rings often requires extensive outreach efforts to help raise awareness and foster cooperation among procurement officials, contractors and public prosecutors, a panel of top cartel enforcers said today. Ron Knox in Rio de Janeiro.

RBB Economics has promoted competition economist Bojana Ignjatovic to partner in its London office.

The European Commission today approved Sony's purchase of EMI’s music publishing business, with conditions that the company divest the publishing rights to four catalogues and the works of 12 contemporary artists.

The UK’s Office of Fair Trading has more than halved a £121.5 million fine imposed on British Airways five years ago for fixing fuel surcharges with Virgin Atlantic, marking the end of a long-running investigation that included a failed criminal trial.

The European Commission today cleared the US$21 billion merger between Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Synthes, approving commitments by the acquirer to sell its trauma devices unit.

With many national economies struggling with shrinking budgets and limited resources, competition enforcers said yesterday that the number and type of investigations they undertake must be more precise - and more effective for consumers. Ron Knox in Rio de Janeiro

The European Court of Justice has rejected an appeal from recycling company Tomra requesting the dismissal of a European Commission fine for abuse of dominance.

The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled for the first time a new, internal wiki page, WikiComp, which the enforcer believes will become a hub for the kind of institutional knowledge many enforcers struggle to capture and disseminate among staff members. Ron Knox in Rio de Janeiro.

Kirsten Edwards will join the UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) as director of economics, leaving Compass Lexecon.

Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has targeted four multinational information technology (IT) companies in a series of dawn raids this month.

One of the world’s leading private criminal cartel lawyers yesterday took Brazil’s antitrust enforcement agencies to task for the opaque and often confusing nature of the fines given to cartelists who chose to cooperate with investigators. Ron Knox in Rio de Janeiro.

Italy’s Antitrust Authority has ruled the 2008 merger between flagship airline Alitalia and Air One gave the merged company a monopoly on flights between Milan and Rome, but Alitalia says it will appeal against the decision.

European Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia exhorted fellow competition agencies to work together to stop anti-competitive practices affecting international trade and boosting a wave of protectionism across the globe, at the opening of the International Competition Network's 11th annual conference. Clare Bolton in Rio de Janeiro.

India’s Competition Commission (CCI) has fined 10 explosives companies 600 million rupees (€8.9 million) for manipulating auctions run by Coal India Limited (CIL).