To: Summit Attendees
From: Horst Henschen, Head of Competition/Antitrust at Covington & Burling
Re: Antitrust Compliance During Global Aluminium Can Sustainability Summit
Ahead of the Summit, I want to reiterate the shared policy of the organizers and sponsors to comply with all applicable antitrust and competition laws.
I have been involved in Summit preparation, and I will be present at the Summit. Any participant should not hesitate to reach out to me in-person or via email (hhenschen@cov.com) with questions or concerns before, during, or after the Summit. I will give further information at the beginning of the Summit.
Therefore, I would like to remind everyone participating in the Summit of some housekeeping rules:
- The organizers have prepared the meeting agenda to avoid any competition law risks. However, because the Summit provides a forum for competitors and customers to interact with one another, problems can arise if activities are not properly conducted. It is thus vital that all meetings and activities of the Summit be conducted so as to avoid even the appearance of improper conduct.
- It remains the responsibility of every participant to respect the competition law compliance rules (see below topics to avoid) during the Summit – including during private and informal discussions among participants.
- As a general rule, discussions during the Summit are aimed at and of course can include general industry trends and potential solutions. In particular, participants should feel free to discuss sustainability issues directly relating to the aluminium beverage can value chain and to explore “common (industry) goals” and a roadmap to get there.
- By contrast, participants should not discuss non-public information on how their company/organization specifically intends to react to certain trends and which specific measures will be implemented to meet the goals.
- Beyond that, the usual competition law reminders are applicable and therefore participants should avoid discussing the following topics entirely:
- Prices, pricing policies, cost analyses/formulas, and/or profit margins of any participant, including financial projections;
- Strategies or policies related to purchasing, selling, costs, new products, markets, or competition;
- Specific terms and conditions of sales of any participant;
- Any plans to discontinue services or to offer products or services;
- Status of negotiations with present or potential customers or suppliers;
- Individual costs, including production costs or production levels, logistics costs or other cost parameters; and
- Any other confidential business information of any participant or its business partners.