Competition Compliance Programme

Competition law risk, also called antitrust risk, comes mainly from everyday contact with rivals: trade association meetings, joint ventures, supplier talks and pricing decisions. A programme starts by mapping where staff meet competitors or hold sensitive pricing information. It then sets simple rules, such as never discussing future prices with a rival, backed by practical training for sales, procurement and senior managers. Other parts include guidance on what to do when a rival raises a forbidden topic, a confidential reporting channel, audits of high-risk teams and a plan for handling a dawn raid. Several competition authorities publish guidance on what a good programme looks like, and some treat a genuine one as a reason to reduce a fine. Authorities that weigh a programme when setting a fine ask for proof it is used: training logs, reported incidents and checks that led to action.

A chemicals manufacturer finds that its regional sales managers attend quarterly industry meetings. It requires a lawyer to approve each agenda, trains the managers with real scenarios and tells them to leave and log any conversation about prices. Six months later a manager reports an awkward remark from a rival, and legal acts at once.