Status: 13th December 2023
EUROFEU is fully committed to the principles of the free social market economy and thus to the principles of undistorted competition. The association therefore feels particularly obliged to comply with the rules of European and German anti-trust law.
Associations are necessary institutions for the formulation and implementation of association and industrial policy goals as well as for the development of sustainable market concepts. Associations also make an important contribution to improving the market environment for their members by working on standardisation, promoting IT-supported systems to streamline members' processes, etc.
Membership of associations and participation in their committees is therefore in principle unobjectionable under competition law and even desirable, since the work of associations increases efficiency for the members and this directly benefits the members customers in the form of improved services. However, as association meetings are inevitably meetings of competitors, special attention must be paid to compliance with antitrust law before, during and after the meetings. The Association has therefore established the following principles for the work of the Association within and outside the bodies:
- Meetings of the Association and its bodies (including committees) shall always be prepared with an agenda.
- As a matter of principle, competitively sensitive issues shall not be the subject of Association meetings and committee work. Competitively sensitive information is information about the market or the behaviour of individual members in the market which is not generally known (e.g. from the trade press). This includes in particular
- Members' prices and pricing, including the date and extent of price increases
- Pricing of the trade/craft/industry
- Current sales figures/turnover of individual manufacturers
- Rebate structure
- Supply to certain dealers/industries, including agreements not to supply certain distribution channels (e.g. DIY stores, online shops, etc.)
- Agreement on customer allocation ("who supplies whom?") or exchange of information in this respect
- Agreement on the allocation of markets ("who supplies where?") or exchange of information on such allocation
- Exchanges or agreements on the charging of transport surcharges (tolls, fuel prices, packaging) 231213 compliance-rules-eurofeu_EN Seite 2 von 2 15.12.2023
- Agreements on participation in trade fairs (e.g. who participates in which trade fair with which concept) or exchange of information in this regard
- General discussions about individual customers or suppliers or the market behaviour of individual competitors.
- In particular, cooperation is permitted in the following areas, although this list is not exhaustive
- Exchanges on general market developments
- Cooperation on standardisation, provided that the standards are not directly relevant to the market (caution, for example, with regard to general terms and conditions)
- Cooperation on draft legislation
- Association recommendations are generally limited to issues that can also be the subject of discussions between members (see section 3).
- Conduct of association meetings in accordance with antitrust law
- Minutes should be kept of the results of the meetings. If the agenda contains an item If the agenda includes an item entitled "Any other business", the minutes shall detail all matters discussed under that item.
- If a participant expresses doubt as to whether the content of a meeting is compatible with the above compliance rules, the subject in question shall not be discussed further and clarification shall be sought with the involvement of the management of the Association. Within each Section, in case of doubt, the full-time Executive Director or staff member shall have the right and duty to interrupt the discussion of any matter which, in his/her opinion, contravenes the above rules and to seek the necessary clarification as to its admissibility. The member's objection shall be recorded.
The Executive Committee and the management of the Association are convinced that compliance with the above rules will in no way affect the present and future work of the Association.
