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A practical set of “DON’Ts” and “RED FLAGs” can be useful tool:
- A list of “DON’Ts” could include clearly illegal conduct such
as price-fixing agreements, the exchange of future pricing
intentions, allocation of production quotas and the fixing of
market shares;
- RED FLAGs” are warning signs which serve to identify situa-
tions in which infringements of competition rules can be sus-
pected. They would encourage managers and employees to
exercise particular caution in seeking to avoid any infringement
on the part of their own undertaking.
Apart from choosing the right strategy and making it accessible to
all staff, unequivocal senior management support is vital. The message
that compliance with the law is a fundamental policy of an undertak-
ing needs to be clearly endorsed. This is an essential element of creat-
ing a culture of respect for the law within the undertaking.
Formal Acts of Acknowledgement by Staff and Consideration
of Compliance Efforts in Staff Evaluation
Backup measures taken by undertakings as regards adherence of
their staff to the adopted compliance strategy might include:
- Asking staff for written acknowledgement of receipt of relevant
information on compliance with EU competition law, for
instance when providing them with a manual or after dedicated
training sessions. This form of explicit recognition helps to
make individual staff members more aware that compliance
concerns each and every one of them;
- Putting in place positive incentives for employees to consider
this objective with utmost seriousness. Compliance duties could
for example be part of job descriptions;
- Penalties for breach of the internal compliance rules. Such
penalties would however have to be consistent with national
employment law and double-checked with legal advisers first.
A further essential feature of a successful compliance strategy is
the inclusion of clear reporting mechanisms. Staff must not only be
aware of potential conflicts with EU competition law, but also need to
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