Competition law compliance for associations and their members

Compliance is a topic high on the agendas: not only for FMCG and other industries, but also associations are increasingly concerned and looked at by complementation authorities.

In order to be fully compliant with competition law, both on Belgian and EU level, BABM has ordered specialised legal office SJBerwin to audit the entire association’s archives over the last 5 years up till today (including meeting agendas and reports, correspondence, member questionnaires/surveys...).

The audit revealed that BABM’s actions and documents are fully compliant with competition and antitrust law.

For all current and future affairs BABM is working in close collaboration and consultation with its legal office so that the actions and dealings of the association are compliant with the legal framework.

In order to make sure meetings are conducted in a correct way, and participants are fully aware of legal constraints as regards the content of the discussions, the meeting President starts each meeting with a reminder of the antitrust clause from the association’s bylaws and the meeting guidelines.