COMPETITION COMPLIANCE: MEETINGS CODE OF CONDUCT
NOF acknowledges the benefits that free and fair competition brings to our partners, our members and to consumers, and is committed to compliance with UK and EU competition law. These rules prohibit, among other practices, agreements and understandings that prevent, restrict or distort competition. We take active steps to ensure that our Board of Directors, staff and our members are aware of their responsibilities under competition law, and that all of our services to our membership and our customers are provided in compliance with the letter and spirit of the rules.
In accordance with this policy, members, partners and guests who attend meetings or events convened by NOF agree to observe the following rules. These apply equally to business tabled at a formal meeting and to informal 'coffee break' conversations.
1. Meetings should only be held under the NOF name when they have been organised by NOF and a member of NOF staff is in attendance.
2. Attendees agree not to initiate or participate in discussions of commercially confidential information, which could result in a restriction of competition. These topics include (but are not limited to) the following:
• Prices currently offered, or to be offered in future, to customers, including components of those prices such as discounts, margins, or costs;
• Commercial terms offered, or to be offered, to customers including volumes, delivery terms, or payment terms;
• Bidding intentions or recent bidding activity;
• Current or future sales or marketing strategies; capacity or production volumes;
• Customer lists, or plans to contract (or to refuse to contract) with particular customers;
• New investments and technologies;
• Market shares, sales volumes, profit margins, turnover
3. Attendees should raise any concerns about the subject-matter of a conversation or discussion immediately by saying No, taking a Note of the incident and Notifying an NOF representative (the "three Ns"). In the case of a formal meeting, the NOF representative may, at his/ her discretion, change the topic or, in the event of persistent inappropriate discussion, terminate the meeting.
Members, partners and guests should seek their own advice about their obligations under competition law. NOF is not responsible for breaches of competition law by these firms and reserves the right not to admit to meetings any organisation that does not comply with this code of conduct.
