Competition Guidance

This Competition Law Compliance Policy governs the conduct of National Skills Academy for Food & Drink Employer Network Members dealings with NSAFD.

NSAFD expects all its Employer Network Members to comply with the Policy, and not to prejudice any of the aims or activities of the NSAFD by any departure from it.

 

General

Meetings of competitors under the guidance of NSAFD are not prevented by competition law. However, NSAFD Employer Network Members must not use the forum provided by NSAFD in order to coordinate their commercial activities or to influence the conduct of a competitor. Each NSAFD Employer Network Member must exercise its independent business judgment in determining its own commercial conduct on the market including pricing its products and services, dealing with its customers and suppliers, and choosing the markets in which it will compete. Any activity that could create, or appear to create, a restriction or distortion of competition must be strictly avoided.

 

Individual Responsibility

Whilst NSAFD expects all its Employer Network Members to comply with this Policy in the course of its dealings with them, Employer Network Members must take individual responsibility for complying with competition law and are advised to seek legal advice if they are unsure about the application of these rules.

 

Discussion Topics

NSAFD can discuss issues of general concern to Employer Network Members, share non-sensitive (historical, aggregated and/or publicly available data) and report on pricing trends and market trends within the food and drink industry over a period of time in general terms.

  • historic data is data that is several times older than the average length of contracts in the food and drink industry.
  • aggregated data is non-sensitive as long as it is genuinely aggregated and gives no indication as to the market behaviour of an individual member; and
  • genuinely public information is information that is equally easy (i.e. it doesn’t cost anything) to access for everyone.

NSAFD must not talk about commercially sensitive issues or current market information or exchange data which allows the practices of individual companies to be easily identified (other than information already in the public domain). It is not possible to provide an exhaustive list of objectionable discussion topics, as the competitive significance of many issues is dependent upon the context in which they are raised. However, this Policy prohibits any discussions or exchange of information between Employer Network Members that might constitute or imply an agreement or concerted practice concerning inter alia:

  • actual prices or price factors, including discounts, increases, rebates, and reductions;
  • customer lists;
  • quantities;
  • turnovers;
  • capacities;
  • qualities;
  • risks;
  • technologies;
  • R&D programmes and results;
  • production costs and demand structure;
  • profits and profit margins;
  • output and sales;
  • ingredient/nutritional data if it contains commercially sensitive information such as cost and supply elements;
  • technical data that relates to current and future research and development into new recipes/ingredients/products;
  • production capacity and forecasts;
  • market shares and sales territories;
  • investments and marketing plans;
  • bidding or refraining from bidding;
  • credit conditions or any other terms or conditions of sale;
  • exclusionary practices; and
  • selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

Discussions or exchange of information on issues such as product reformulation and biofuels must be restricted to non-sensitive (historical, aggregated and/or publicly available data) information and must not influence commercial practices or prices. Employer Network Members are permitted to exchange opinions and experiences in relation to general industry studies/statistics/market research provided that confidential information relating to individual companies is not disclosed. Employer Network Members must ensure that any confidential information disclosed to NSAFD is provided on a confidential basis.

 

Meetings

If a discussion or a meeting involves practices contrary to this Policy, NSAFD will terminate that discussion or meeting immediately. Employer Network Members should feel free to terminate a discussion or leave a meeting if they feel that this Policy has been breached. Agendas are circulated to members in advance of the meeting and minutes are produced as an official record of the meeting. NSAFD does not offer “Any Other Business” as an agenda item. At the start of a meeting, the chairman may ask those present to “confirm the agenda” – this then allows for formal additions to the agenda if the group is happy for their inclusion. If any objections are raised, items should be deferred to a later meeting. Breakout meetings before or after the formal NSAFD meetings at which individual competitors exchange commercially sensitive information are strictly prohibited.