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The comments by European Competition Commissioner Margrethe
Vestager underline the unease among policy enforcers about
technologically-advanced tools such as computer algorithms that
make it easier for companies to collude without any formal
agreement or even human interaction.
The European Commission's inquiry into e-commerce last year, for
example, found that two-thirds of retailers use algorithms to
track their competitors' prices.
There is debate whether the creators and users of such
algorithms can even be held responsible for such collusion.
Vestager said she had commissioned a study into the issue in
order to upgrade her antitrust toolbox.
"It is a hypothesis that not all algorithms will have been to
law school. So maybe there is a few out there who may get the
idea that they should collude with another algorithm who haven't
been to law school either," Vestager told a conference organized
by the Belgian Competition Authority.
"So of course, we would like to have our own algorithms to be
out there, looking into the market, figuring out if there has
been collusion taking place," she said.
In a speech last year, Vestager, who can penalize companies up
to 10 percent of their global turnover for breaching EU rules,
said she may levy bigger fines against companies that use
software to enforce their cartels more strictly.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Mark Potter)
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