18 March 2025
Bilbao Campus
From 18 to 20 March 2025, the University of Deusto hosted the international seminar “Tourism, Transport and Competition”. This event was organised by the OECD Regional Centre for Competition and the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH), with support from the Basque Competition Authority (AVC) and the University of Deusto. The seminar brought together leading experts in competition law, economics, and regulation to examine the challenges facing tourism and transport sectors from the perspective of free competition.
This marks the second time that this internal training session for Eastern European countries has been held at Deusto. Its organisation, in collaboration with both the Basque and Spanish competition authorities, underscores Deusto Law School’s strong position in the field of competition law. This discipline is an integral part of the curriculum in both the Bachelor of Laws and the Master’s in Law and Legal Practice. The course is also offered as part of the Compliance Officer programme and the Expert in Competition Law and Public Administration programme. Some of the students from the International Law LLM (Master's in Law and Legal Practice and Master's in International Legal Studies) could also attend the course.
The programme included participants from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives from the Eurasian Economic Commission. Over the course of three days, presentations were made on the impact of regulation on tourism and transport, including an analysis of the Booking.com case in Spain and examples of abuse of dominant market position in the railway sector. Key issues regarding competition in tourism were also addressed, with presentations on the tourist apartment market in the Basque Country, the regulation of online accommodation booking platforms, and the effects of digital markets on competition. Finally, the regulatory aspects of transport and their implications for competition were examined. The seminar concluded with two practical case studies on competition in the tourism and transport sectors in Croatia.
Speakers included Cani Fernández, President of the Spanish National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC); Ainara Herce, President of the Basque Competition Authority (AVC); Attila Sipos, Secretary General of the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH); Mirta Kapural, President of the Croatian Competition Agency (AZTN); María Pilar Canedo, Director of the OECD-GVH Regional Competition Centre; José Ramón Intxaurbe, Dean of the Law School at the University of Deusto; as well as experts from the CNMC, GVH, AVC, OECD, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The programme included thematic sessions, practical case presentations, and talks on digital markets, housing, and collaborative tourism. In the opening session, which featured María Pilar Canedo, Attila Sipos, Ainara Herce, and José Ramón Intxaurbe, Cani Fernández discussed the role of competition authorities in addressing the challenges posed by digital platforms.
These seminars, organised by the OECD Regional Centre, aim to build a community among the participating authorities. For this reason, their methodology focuses on practical workshops, where participants and experts can exchange experiences, challenges, and reflections interactively.
