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How Ensure a Compliance with EU Competition Rules
In order to ensure effective compliance with EU competition rules
and prevent costs of non-compliance, undertakings should think ahead,
develop an approach tailor-made for their particular situation and set it
out in writing, rather than react to problems only when they occur.
The below-stated steps may be taken into account for undertakings
with a view to ensure effective compliance with EU competition rules:
A Clear Strategy
Identifying the Overall Risk and Individual Exposure.
A suc-
cessful undertaking’s compliance strategy would be based on a com-
prehensive analysis of the areas in which it is most likely to run a risk
of infringing EU competition rules. These areas will depend on factors
such as:
- The sector of activity, for instance a history of previous
infringements in the sector indicates a need for particular atten-
tion;
- (frequency / level of) the undertaking’s interaction with com-
petitors; for instance in the course of industry meetings or meet-
ings or within trade associations, but also in day-to-day com-
mercial dealings;
- The characteristics of the market: position of the undertaking
and its competitors, barriers to entry, etc. If a company holds a
dominant position in a market, the preventive measures to be
taken will differ from those where th3e risk factor is more in the
nature of “cartelization”.
Making the Strategy Explicit.
In the interest of genuine compli-
ance, it is also important to disseminate the undertaking’s compliance
strategy throughout its entire organizational structure. For the sake of
internal clarity, the strategy would preferably be laid down in writing,
plainly worded and in all the working languages of the undertaking, so
that it is understood by everyone. It could for example take the form of
a manual.
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