Antitrust at Meetings
The International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) is the voice and ear of the international fertilizer industry, promoting the efficient and responsible production and use of plant nutrients.
As a trade association, IFA has strict antitrust law compliance obligations and must be sensitive to possible competition implications of concerted activities.
IFA is committed to meeting these responsibilities in full compliance with all competition laws applicable to its operations.
To achieve the goals of this antitrust compliance commitment, IFA members should adhere to the following guidelines when participating in IFA activities.
I. Don’t
Prices
- Do not discuss or exchange information on individual company prices or pricing policies and procedures;
- Do not enter into any agreements with competitors regarding prices, bids, profit margins; price differentials, mark-ups, discounts, allowances, or credit terms.
Production
- Do not enter into any agreements or understandings with competitors regarding individual company’s future production, sales and inventory levels;
- Do not discuss or exchange information on production or distribution costs, unless these data are historical and have already been published;
- Do not disclose information on any future plans, strategies or investments, unless previously publicy announced.
Markets
- Do not enter into any agreements or understandings with competitors regarding market shares, or the allocation of customers or sales territories, or the exclusion of customers or suppliers;
- Do not discuss or exchange information on individual company’s actions or strategies to manage the market, supply, demand, recovery or other conditions affecting competition, and on any supply chain arrangements.
II. Do
Governance
- Ensure that an agenda is prepared and distributed to all participants in IFA meetings relating to supply, demand, forecasting, benchmarking, standards and technical specifications;
- Ensure that the discussions during the meetings are pursuant to the topics of the agendas;
- Ensure that minutes of meetings are taken and accurately reflect the discussion and actions taken;
- Follow the attached “guidelines for speakers” in IFA conference whenever participating in an IFA meeting/function. If you have any concerns, seek guidance from the IFA Secretariat before proceeding.
Supervision
- Ensure that an IFA Secretariat representative attends each meeting held under the auspices of IFA;
- Ensure that each participant in IFA meetings receives a copy of these guidelines;
- Ensure that IFA members are remembered that activities at IFA meetings may be subject to competition laws of a number of countries even though the activities do not take place in a particular country;
- Ask the IFA Secretariat if a member has any questions on these important matters.
