Miguel Gorjão-Henriques is new President of Competition Commission of International Chamber of Commerce

NEWS AND EVENTS 25 Jul 2011

The new, recently established Portuguese Competition Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), nominated SÉRVULO partner Miguel Gorjão-Henriques as its President.

The ICC is headquartered in Paris and is the largest and most reputable international organization geared towards the promotion and assistance of international trade and arbitration. It seeks to sustainably do away with trade barriers between countries, by collaborating with governments and international organizations like the United Nations. It operates through international commissions, made up of national ones, which represent the various business areas.

Miguel Gorjão-Henriques, the new President of the Competition Commission, will represent Portugal in the ICC’s international competition commission. He is also a member of APDE - Direcção da Associação Portuguesa de Direito Europeu (Directorate of the Portuguese Association of European Law) and of the Conselho Consultivo do Círculo dos Advogados de Direito da Concorrência (the Advisory Council of the Association of Competition Lawyers). Mr Gorjão-Henriques currently leads the European, Competition and Pharmaceutical Law practices at Sérvulo and he is also a lecturer at the Law Faculty of the University of Coimbra. Other highlights in  Mr Gorjão-Henriques’ career include the Executive Directorship of Apifarma (the Portuguese association of the pharmaceutical industry), being legal counsel to INFARMED - Instituto Nacional da Farmácia e do Medicamento (Portuguese national institute of pharmacology and medicine), and participating in the Competition Law Review Commission, which led to the creation of the new Portuguese Competition Authority in 2003.

On the role of the ICC competition commission in Portugal, Miguel Gorjão-Henriques stresses the role of “developing a competition culture amongst businesses and more generally as part of the whole national economy”, “of advising on best practices”, and underlines the important of “the participation of the main Portuguese economic players in the formation of policies on an intergovernmental (OCDE, etc.) and European level, including before the European Commission and the European Council” and the “challenge involved in always being up-to-date on the most advanced trends in terms of legislation and enforcement, both at a European and an international level,” thereby contributing to “strengthening Portugal’s competitiveness, a fundamental goal if we want the country to overcome the difficulties it is currently going through,” given that “competition advocacy is ultimately good for businesses, and, of course, for consumers, too”.

Click here for more information on the ICC.