Anti-Trust Policy
Last updated: 05/10/2019
Antitrust and competition laws are designed to prevent a variety of anticompetitive business practices.
The members of the ADCR Consortium are committed to comply with all applicable antitrust/competition laws and in particular Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Compliance with antitrust/competition laws is the responsibility of all ADCR members, officers, staff and consultants.
The antitrust/competition laws notably prohibit competitors from sharing commercially sensitive information and restraining competition among themselves, e.g. with respect to prices, production, market shares, sales practices, quality or distribution of any products or services. These laws also forbid competitors from acting in concert to restrict or affect competition, such as the competitive capabilities or opportunities of their competitors, suppliers or customers, as well as from abusing a dominant market position.
Article 3.1 and Appendix 5 of the Consortium Agreement provide for compliance with competition laws and refer to the CEFIC Guidance on Competition Compliance, as well as the DO's and DON'Ts. In particular, cooperation should be restricted to the initially defined goals and purposes of the consortium, companies should not exchange confidential business or commercially sensitive information, such as information on production capacities, sales volumes, import volumes, market shares, price policy, distribution and marketing terms, marketing strategies and supplier relationships. If needed, a trustee may be involved in particular to collect and aggregate confidential information.
Meetings should follow a formal agenda approved in advance and minutes of all meetings should be kept.
A legal counsel should be consulted whenever there are uncertainties relating to compliance with competition law. It will also attend all meetings to ensure compliance with antitrust/competition laws and intervene if necessary to stop discussion on prohibited subjects. Participants shall immediately raise objection and terminate any discussion if there is a concern that it might violate competition law.
These rules should also apply to pre-consortium meetings, as well as meetings and discussions with potential members or other interested third parties, including the launch meeting.