Code of Conduct: a checklist

DO

DON’T

Application of competition law

Art. 81 and 82 EC Treaty may be applicable to the conclusion of the Preliminary Agreement and activities of the preliminary phase.

Don’t assume that conflicts with competition law are excluded simply by the fact that the Agreement complies with the provisions of REACH.

Consultation in Matters of
Competition Law

Consult an in-house legal expert or the compliance officer of your company or an external lawyer whenever there are uncertainties respecting compliance with competition law.

Stop all meetings/discussions which are not in compliance with the Code of Conduct until a legal expert has been involved.

Don’t assume that the Code of Conduct deals with all competition law issues exhaustively. Basically, compliance with Art. 81 and 82 EC Treaty can be determined only on the basis of market impact in each individual case. The Code may therefore be regarded only as a means of providing general conduct recommendations.

Activities in the preliminary phase

Restrict cooperation within the scope of the Agreement to the initially defined goals and purposes of the cooperation.

Pursuant to Art. 81 and 82 EC Treaty the following activities are prohibited within the scope of the Preliminary Agreement:

-          Coming to arrangements about prices, markets and customers (see Art. 81 paragraph 1 a)-e) EC Treaty);

-          Joint boycotting of other companies

-          The unjustified unequal treatment of trade partners

-  the abusive exploitation of a dominating
    market position.

Exchange of Confidential Information

Involve a trustee for the exchange of confidential information.

The exchange of confidential information concerning market behaviour is inadmissible; in particular this relates to

-          production capacities

-          productions or sales volumes

-          import volumes

-          market shares

-          price policy

-          distribution and marketing terms

-          marketing strategies

-          information regarding the relationship with suppliers

Documentation on Cooperation

Keep minutes of all meetings which detail the subject of the meeting.

Have the contents of the minutes reviewed by an in-house legal expert or the compliance officer of your company prior to sending them to all parties of the Agreement.

Stop all meetings which are not in compliance with the Code of Conduct until a legal expert has been involved.