Trade Associations:

Competition Law
dos & don’ts
Principle
Trade associations and other industry organizations can be useful to collect and share industry information and to represent the industry
in dialogue with the public, government and other organizations. Sometimes they may be used – deliberately or not – as a forum for illegal
coordination or exchange of competitively sensitive information between competitors. Competition Authorities are naturally suspicious of
trade association meetings and it is important that we observe strict rules when attending them.

What to do:
Report attendance to management and follow the dos and don’ts below before any meeting or call takes place.

DOs
Make sure you have received competition law training
either face-to-face or online (see here)
Report membership of trade associations to:
1) AkzoNobel Legal Group and
2) Communications & Public Affairs
Object clearly when a competitor or the chair of the
meeting shares competitively sensitive information:
–– Make known that AkzoNobel does not discuss this
information with competitors
–– Urgently request that the conversation is stopped
–– If the conversation continues, withdraw and ask for the
minutes to record your reason for- and time of your
leaving (“Noisy Exit”)
–– Report the incident orally to your manager and the
Legal Group
Keep a record of every meeting, consulting the Legal
Group in case of doubt or suspicion:
–– Check and sign the agenda ahead of the meeting; and
–– Keep detailed meeting minutes
Any informal discussions or social gatherings before,
during or after the meeting must have a clear legitimate
business rationale (or otherwise be avoided)
You can exchange non-confidential, general technical and
promotional information, like:
–– Health, safety and environmental matters
–– Industry public relations initiatives (e.g. product
concerns, industry image)
–– Lobbying on proposed regulations from the Government
–– Technical standards or technology matters (unless a
specific technology is used to compete on the market)
Authorized AkzoNobel employees should attend particular
types of trade association. For instance, a commercial
employee should not attend a technical meeting
Know and bring AkzoNobel’s view/message to the trade
association (and not your own) and report back to your
manager, and if necessary to Communications & Public
Affairs
DON’Ts
Never discuss or exchange any competitively sensitive or
strategic information with competitors, like:
–– Pricing, including general price trends or initiatives
–– Discounts or rebates
–– Costs or other individual production or distribution
information
–– Estimated market shares
–– Territorial restrictions
–– Customer or project allocation
–– Market conditions and industry problems
–– Individual know-how and plans
–– Matters relating to individual suppliers, distributors or
customers
Do not stay silent if you observe others breaking the rules.
This can still be treated as collusion. Report it to your
manager and the Legal Group
Do not participate in informal discussions or social
gatherings before, during or after the meeting (unless there
is a clear legitimate business rationale)
Do not facilitate the exchange of competitively sensitive
information among other participants
Do not accept any market intelligence and/or industry
statistics that are:
–– Not collected by an independent company or team that is
approved by the Legal Group
–– Not with at least five competitors contributing to the study
–– Not aggregated data in final report (individual competitor’s
sensitive information must not be identifiable)
–– Based on future data regarding pricing, costs, volumes or
individual customers instead of historic data
Do not receive competitively sensitive or strategic
information
–– Not even via e-mail (please notify the Legal Group if this
happens)
Do not bring your own view/message to the trade
association, nor sign up to initiatives or co-sign letters on
AkzoNobel’s behalf, without liaising with your manager or if
necessary Communications & Public Affairs

Director Competition Law Regional Focal Points SOUTH AMERICA NORTH ASIA EUROPE UNITED KINGDOM
Marcia Romano Santo Le Cheng Charlotte van Meer Marni Lancaster
Gianni De Stefano NORTH AMERICA T +55-1121091122 T +86-2122205828 T +31889697935 T +44-2079329909
T +31-889691661 Peter Drucker M +55-11991691288 M +86-13661588070 M +31615439510 M +44-7711128966
M +31-650059925 T TBA
M +1 615 5826626 SOUTH ASIA Michael Liang MIDDLE EAST AND
gianni.destefano@akzonobel.com
Surabhi Agarwal T +86-2122205826 AFRICA
T +65-84283640 M +86-13512158030 Sari Kanaan
M +91-9818466451 T +971-43762410
Communications & Public Affairs M +971-552421227
media.relations@akzonobel.com