OECD Competition Trends 2023
Competition Open Day – 23 February 2023
oe.cd/comp-trends

Table of Contents
2
1.
OECD Global
CompStats Database
2.
Competition Trends 2023 –
main developments 2021

Compstats includes almost all of the world’s
competition enforcement, and …
3
Europe
34
79
Middle East and
Africa
18
Americas
10
Asia-Pacific
17
Non -OECD
41
OECD
38
79

…includes over 30 economic and legal variables
4

Audience and objectives
5
• Competition authorities: comparison / benchmark
• Policy makers: evidence-based policy making
• Academic research
• Business community
• OECD Competition Committee

Purpose/use of the reports
6
The reports can mainly be used in three ways:
• Identify / highlight trends in variables (not causality) – common
to most jurisdictions or at least driven by a significant number
• Aggregate / anonymous data – no rankings
• Highlight differences between geographic regions
(All, OECD, Non-OECD, Americas,
Asia-Pacific, Europe, MEA)

1. Competition staff grew much faster in 2021 than
in preceding years
7
Annual percentage change in competition staff
-1.0%
0.0%
1.0%
2.0%
3.0%
4.0%
5.0%
6.0%
2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21

Dawn raids recovered from the dip in 2020, but
are generally still fewer than pre pandemic
8
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
All Non-OECD OECD
Average number of cartel dawn raids per year per agency

Leniency applications increased in Europe in 2021,
but continued declining in the other regions
9
Total number of leniency applications
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
All Non-OECD OECD Americas Asia-Pacific Europe MEA
Total
leniency
applications

Authorities used more settlements and
commitments in 2021
10
Percentage of cartel cases with a settlement
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Americas Asia-Pacific Europe MEA
Non-OECD OECD All

Fines increased significantly in all regions
11
Total fines imposed, EUR bn. (abuse of dominance and cartel cases)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
All Non-OECD OECD Americas Asia-Pacific Europe MEA

The overall intervention rate in merger
review decreased in 2021
12
Average merger intervention rate (prohibitions + remedies)
0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

PREVIOUS OECD COMPETITION TRENDS REPORTS
Full publications available at oe.cd/comp-trends
2020 2021 2022

Thank you!
Wouter Meester
Competition Expert, OECD
oe.cd/comp-trends