AESGP Antitrust Code of Conduct

[Last updated: 11 January 2024]

The purpose of the association cannot be considered as a vehicle for other activities. AESGP expects its members to take all measures necessary to ensure compliance with all applicable competition rules at all times and in particular to strictly follow the “Do’s and Don’ts” checklist below for any exchange, call or meeting, whether formal, informal, in person or virtual, involving industry representatives.

Many competition laws are focused on interactions between competitors. When dealing with competitors, the following conduct is always prohibited:

Directly or indirectly fixing sale prices, or any component of the sale price, such as incentives and margins, allowances, transport charges, payments for additional services, etc.;
Exchange commercially sensitive information with competitors (e.g. pricing strategy, cost structure, business plans or intentions, etc.);
Agree with competitors on any conditions of supply; Restricting capacity or output or otherwise agreeing to refrain from supplying a product or service;
Allocating or dividing markets or customers;
Agree with competitors not to do business with particular customers, suppliers or other competitors to prevent/discourage those from conducting business (“boycotts/collective refusal”); and facilitating boycotts;
Coordinating tender bids.

The “Do’s and Don’ts” checklist highlights the most basic antitrust principles and forms an integral part of AESGP’s competition law compliance policy and is non-exhaustive. The latest version of the checklist is set out below and can be consulted at all times in the AESGP Member Platform. AESGP members must ensure that no formal or informal exchange of commercially sensitive information takes place, whether directly or indirectly via AESGP.

Do's

DO restrict information exchanges to:

Relevant information necessary to contribute to AESGP missions and objectives;
General industrial data more than one year old, or not considered confidential, and which cannot be used to identify particular customers, prospective output or pricing strategy;
Information relating to opinion and general experience, market research (except with respect to particular customers), comparative studies of enterprises or industries, general industry or sector information to be used in preparation of general statistics or cost models, technical and environmental standards, new laws;
Recent non-price and non-cost data which will be compiled and aggregated by solely and disseminated to members as global figures not attributable to any particular company.

DO take the following measures before, during and after attending an association meeting:

Before an association meeting:

Check the agenda in advance for potential competition-sensitive issues;
Consult with appropriate counsel if you detect potential competition-sensitive issues on a meeting agenda;
Take with you a copy of the Do’s and Don’ts document.

During the association meeting:

Adhere to the prepared agenda;
Limit meeting discussions to agenda topics;
Minute the meeting and object to minutes of meetings if they do not accurately reflect the discussion and actions taken;
Object at a meeting if the discussion appears to violate competition rules. If your objection does not stop the discussions, leave the meeting and make sure that this is noted in the minutes. The disclosed information should not be used subsequently to determine your company’s commercial strategy.

After the meeting:

Ensure the review of agendas, minutes and other important documents by appropriate staff or counsel, in advance of distribution;
In case of an incident, report the event to your management immediately.

DO remember that you must determine your commercial policy independently from third parties.

DO remember that your best defence to allegations of anti-competitive behaviour is to keep accurate documentation of what happened, prepared when your memory of the events is fresh. Inaccurate or incomplete documentation can often be detrimental both to your position and to the position of the company.

Don'ts

DO NOT as a rule submit business information for collation and dissemination by a centrally controlled body such as a trade association if it could enable your competitors to forecast your conduct on the market or reduce the degree of uncertainty about the operation of the market.

DO NOT disclose/discuss/accept any commercially sensitive information, regarding:

Current or future pricing (strategies) even if aggregated including for individual products, specific customers, or particular markets.
Past prices or quantities, where those allow competitors to predict future behaviour.
Pricing formulas, methods or strategies, or price-setting factors.
Incentive levels, specific discounts/rebates, credit terms, minimum purchase commitments, and other terms of sale.
Current or projected cost, capacity, utilization information.
Output levels or production levels/inventory for a particular product.
Customer lists, details of costumer relationships.
Investment decisions in recent past or near future.
Purchasing or selling practices of particular customers or suppliers.
Market share of your company or those of your competitors.
Innovation projects/plans (e.g. new technology or research projects and results, including future product launches).
Methods to exclude competitors, customers or service providers.

DO NOT accept or use the information exchanged to adopt a behaviour similar to your competitors or prevent newcomers’ market entry.

DO NOT use language which might create unfounded suspicions of unlawful coordination by competitors, such as “For your eyes only”, or “Destroy after reading”.