Antitrust Guidelines for Meeting Participants

V2023-09-18

Summary 

Participants must be aware that competition law necessitates great care when having any contact with competitors, including in industry forums such as the meeting which is referencing this document. As participants of this group may compete with each other in various aspects of their businesses, they are asked to:  

  1. remind themselves of the competition compliance training they should have received from the organisation they represent; and  
  2. not discuss any competitively sensitive information at any meeting or associated gatherings/discussions.  

Please note that this guidance is not intended to be or contain legal advice. Each participating organisation is advised to seek its own appropriate legal advice with respect to compliance with applicable antitrust laws, including its own internal policies. 

Procedure for all meetings  

  1.  At the beginning of each meeting, the participants should be reminded of this document and to note any of their obligations under competition law.  
  2. An agenda must be circulated in advance of each meeting. It should include a complete list of topics for discussion and should not include an “any other business” item or equivalent.  
  3. Participants should ensure that they are comfortable with the proposed agenda, if necessary taking advice from their respective organisation’s legal teams.  
  4. All meetings must proceed strictly in accordance with the agenda circulated in advance of the meeting by its organiser, and will be recorded in minutes. 
  5. Participants must review the minutes to ensure that they reflect the actual discussions held at the meetings.  
  6. The participants should be sensitive at all times to ensure that remarks made in meetings or associated gatherings cannot be misinterpreted.  
  7. If any discussions that may be contrary to competition law are initiated, the Chair of the meeting should immediately bring such discussions to a close.  
  8. Discussions at gatherings should not involve any disclosure/discussion of confidential information, including in particular (although this list is not exhaustive):
    1. no disclosure or discussion of the participants’ fee schedules, pricing policies, current or future margins, or identification of customers;  
    2. no disclosure or discussion of any participants’ future plans (such as new products or changes to existing services, prospective clients, business opportunities or product development plans), strategic / expansion plans;  
    3. no disclosure or discussion of prices, commissions paid or payable to, or any other terms and conditions of arrangements between the participants and their suppliers, partners or other intermediaries.