Antitrust Policy
Antitrust PolicyTAPPI Antitrust Policy
This document sets forth TAPPI's antitrust policy and the rules of conduct and compliance procedures which govern all TAPPI activities. These guidelines apply to TAPPI employees as well as all companies and company employees who participate in TAPPI functions. These formal guidelines are intended to do two things: (1) prevent the occurrence of an actual antitrust violation in the course of TAPPI activities, and (2) prevent inadvertent conduct which might give the appearance of an antitrust violation to someone unfamiliar with TAPPI's nature and purposes. They are designed to protect you, your employer and TAPPI from any accusation of wrongdoing arising out of your participation in TAPPI activities.
Accomplishment of these objectives is everyone's responsibility. We urge you to keep this document handy, and to refer to it whenever you have any question about the antitrust implications of any activity you might undertake under the auspices of TAPPI. We also urge you to advise your colleagues and corporate officers of TAPPI's comprehensive antitrust compliance program, so that you can count on their continued support in your TAPPI activities.
Any questions you or your company's legal counsel may have concerning TAPPI's antitrust compliance program should be directed to Larry N. Montague, President and CEO, TAPPI, 15 Technology Parkway South, Ste 115, Peachtree Corners, Georgia 30092, Phone (770) 209-7227, Fax (770) 446-6947,[email protected], or to TAPPI's antitrust counsel, Valarie Williams, Alston & Bird, One Atlantic Center, 1201 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30309; Phone (404) 881-7631,[email protected].
Statement of Antitrust Policy
TAPPI is a professional and scientific association organized to further the application of the sciences in the paper and related industries. Its aim is to promote research and education in the areas of interest of its members. TAPPI is not intended to, and may not, play any role in the competitive decisions of its members or their employers, or in any way restrict competition in the paper and related industries.
Through its short courses, technical conferences and other activities, TAPPI brings together representatives of competitors in the paper and allied industries. The subject matter of TAPPI activities is technical in nature, the purpose of these activities is educational and there is no intent to restrain competition in any manner. Nevertheless the Board of Directors recognizes the possibility that the Association and its activities could be seen by some as an opportunity for anticompetitive conduct. For this reason, the Board has taken the opportunity, through this statement of policy, to make clear its unequivocal support for the policy of competition served by the antitrust laws and its uncompromising intent to comply strictly in all respects with those laws.
此外，协会及其个人和公司成员违反反垄断法可能受到的处罚是如此严厉，以至于良好的商业判断要求作出一切努力来避免任何此类违反。某些违反《谢尔曼法》(Sherman Act)的行为，如价格操纵，属于重罪，个人可能被判处最高10年监禁或最高100万美元罚款，或两者兼而有之，企业每犯一次罚款可达1亿美元或更多。此外，私人当事人因违反反垄断法而提出的三倍损害索赔(包括集体诉讼)的诉讼成本极高，并可能导致可能摧毁协会并严重影响其成员经济利益的判决。
It is the responsibility of every member of TAPPI to be guided by TAPPI's policy of strict compliance with the antitrust laws in all TAPPI activities Committee chairs, Association officers, and officers of Local Sections have a special responsibility to ensure that this policy is known and adhered to in the course of activities pursued under their leadership.
To assist the TAPPI staff and all its officers, directors, committee chairmen, and Local Section officers in recognizing situations which may raise the appearance of an antitrust problem, the Board will as a matter of policy furnish to each of such persons the Association's General Rules of Antitrust Compliance. The Association will also make available general legal advice when questions arise as to the manner in which the antitrust laws may apply to the activities of TAPPI or any committee or Section thereof.
遵守反垄断法规是每个TAPPI成员的责任。任何违反TAPPI反垄断合规一般规则或本一般政策的会员将立即被暂停协会会员资格，并立即被从任何协会办公室开除。TAPPI实施这些规则并不意味着TAPPI认为每一次违反这些规则都是违反反垄断法。由于违反反垄断法的潜在严重后果，TAPPI提供了护栏，旨在防止出现与反垄断问题有关的不当行为。
General Rules of Antitrust Compliance
The following rules are applicable to all TAPPI activities and must be observed in all situations and under all circumstances without exception or qualification other than as noted below.
1. Neither TAPPI nor any committee, Section or activity of TAPPI shall be used for the purpose of bringing about or attempting to bring about any understanding or agreement, written or oral, formal or informal, express or implied, among competitors with regard to prices, terms or conditions of sale, distribution, volume of production, territories or customers.
2. Do not discuss or allow discussion of individual companies’ prices or pricing methods. If a presentation or communication contains historical pricing trends for the industry, it requires approval by TAPPI legal.
3.不要讨论或允许讨论一般的生产能力、任何行业的生产限制、行业纪律，或任何可能被解释为限制生产的协议。
4. Do not undertake any activity which involves exchange or collection and dissemination among competitors of any information regarding prices or pricing methods.
5.未经协会提供的法律顾问事先批准，任何TAPPI委员会或团体不得收集个别公司的成本数据，或传播此类数据的任何汇编。
6. Do not discuss or allow discussion of costs of individual companies. Any presentation or proposed topic involving a discussion of average historical costs in the industry requires approval by TAPPI legal counsel.
7. Do not allow any discussion of costs that could be viewed as promoting agreement among competing firms with respect to their selection of products for purchase, their choice of suppliers, or the prices they will pay for supplies
8. Do not discuss or allow discussion of excluding any person or business entity from access to any market or supply of goods or services.
9. No person shall be unreasonably excluded from participation in any TAPPI activity, committee or Section. To the extent that a decision to exclude a person or entity from participation is made, the legitimate business reasons for the exclusion should be documented.
10. Neither TAPPI nor any committee or Section thereof shall make any effort to bring about the standardization of any product for the purpose or with the effect of preventing the manufacture or sale of any product not conforming to a specified standard. All standards and test methods must be cleared by TAPPI Headquarters prior to publication.
11. Do not discuss or allow any discussion that might be construed as an agreement or understanding to refrain from purchasing any raw material, equipment, services or other supplies from any supplier.
12. Scientific papers published by TAPPI or presented in connection with TAPPI programs may refer to historical industry costs, provided such references are not accompanied by any suggestion, express or implied, to the effect that prices should be adjusted or maintained in order to reflect such costs. All papers containing cost information must be reviewed by the TAPPI legal counsel for possible antitrust implications prior to publication or presentation.
13. Authors of conference papers should be informed of TAPPI's antitrust policy and the need to comply therewith in the preparation and presentation of their papers. Conference papers must be reviewed and approved by TAPPI prior to publication or presentations.
14. Committee chairmen shall prepare meeting agendas in advance and forward the agendas to TAPPI headquarters for review prior to their meetings. Minutes of such meetings shall not be distributed until they are reviewed for antitrust implications by TAPPI headquarters staff.
15. All members are expected to comply with these guidelines and TAPPI's antitrust policy in informal discussions at the site of a TAPPI meeting, but beyond the control of its chairman, as well as in formal TAPPI activities.
16. Any company that believes that it may be or has been unfairly placed at a competitive disadvantage as a result of a TAPPI activity should so notify the TAPPI member responsible for the activity, who in turn should immediately notify TAPPI headquarters. Any company that has concerns that a discussion or presentation at a TAPPI event violates this policy should notify the TAPPI member responsible. If its complaint is not resolved by the responsible TAPPI member, the company should notify TAPPI headquarters directly. TAPPI headquarters and appropriate Section, division or committee officers or chairpersons will then review and attempt to resolve the complaint. In time-critical situations, the company may contact TAPPI headquarters directly.
Guidelines for Antitrust Compliance by Division and Committee Officers
DOs and DON'Ts for Meetings and Operations
务必在会议15天前将所有会议的议程发送给TAPPI总部技术部门主管。
会议结束后30天内将会议记录发送至TAPPI总部。
DO review TAPPI Antitrust Policy and General Rules of Antitrust Compliance prior to the meeting.
禁止任何可能导致以下情况的讨论:(a)价格或定价政策的讨论;(b)任何形式的竞争限制。
DO advise all meeting attendees to observe the General Rules of Antitrust Compliance in informal conversations as well as formal TAPPI activities.
DO NOT place constraints on committee membership, other than the member's technical capability in the area covered by the committee and the willingness of the committee member to participate actively in committee work.
DO NOT undertake any committee activity involving collection or dissemination of prices or pricing methods.
DO NOT undertake any committee activity involving collection of individual firm cost data or dissemination of any compilation of such data without prior approval of TAPPI legal counsel.
DO NOT undertake any activity to establish a product standard or specification. All test methods must be cleared by TAPPI headquarters prior to publication.
除非委员会的成员有定期及合理的轮换，否则切勿对委员会的人数设定限制。你可以对每个公司代表的最多人数设定一个数字限制。
Guidelines for Creation of Documents
通过创建清晰、简洁、事实和明确的记录认真沟通;在按下发送按钮之前，先问问自己，你是想让你的信息在报纸上被引用还是在陪审团面前被宣读。
DO consider the best method to communicate information. Would a telephone call or an in-person meeting be better?
DO NOT use words which, to an uninformed reader, could imply guilt or convey suggestive behavior (e.g., "keep this to yourself,” "destroy after reading").
DO NOT speculate on the legality of business conduct. If you believe a legal issue is involved, consult the TAPPI legal counsel.
不要使用虚假的语言暗示竞争对手之间的串通行为或协议。一个“行业”不会“思考”或“偏好”。没有“行业协议”或“行业政策”。对市场状况做出反应的价格变化不是“跟随市场领导者”或“价格变动”。DO respond to communications that are unclear or ambiguous with a clarifying response.
DO use good judgment. These are only broad guidelines and cannot address every possible circumstance. As a result, the most essential guideline is: be aware, be smart and exercise good judgment.
TAPPI Guidelines for Submitting Copies of Correspondence to TAPPI Headquarters
TAPPI headquarters needs to remain aware of what particular committees and sections of TAPPI are doing or are planning to do in order to better assist those groups in achieving their objectives and to continue to supervise actively the antitrust compliance of TAPPI. The Board of Directors of TAPPI therefore has adopted this formal statement of TAPPI's policy which requires that persons corresponding or receiving correspondence on behalf of TAPPI provide copies of the type of correspondence outlined below to the appropriate liaison person at TAPPI headquarters.
根据这一政策，TAPPI不需要关于演讲者、会议、旅行、晚餐预定等安排的日常书面交流的副本。TAPPI headquarters does require that copies of correspondence of an important nature and of non-routine matters be supplied in a timely fashion to
TAPPI headquarters personnel connected with the committee or Section involved as shown below:
1. Plans regarding the activities of TAPPI committees or Sections.
2. Communications with other TAPPI committees or Sections.
3.与TAPPI以外的人员或组织进行沟通。
4. All written or recurring verbal complaints or criticisms of TAPPI activities.
All correspondence falling under the above-stated policy must be forwarded promptly to the appropriate. TAPPI headquarters liaison person, preferably at the time of transmittal or receipt.
TAPPI Guidelines for Manufacturing Plant Tours
Manufacturing plant tours in connection with TAPPI technical program activities provide an opportunity for observation of applied science and technology. On-site inspection of equipment and processes by program attendees serves to promote knowledge of advances in manufacturing processes. Sponsored plant tours are conducted for the purpose of promoting understanding of production techniques and alternative approaches to techncal problems in areas such as safety, pollution control, noise abatement and energy conservation. They may also promote the practical education of new TAPPI members and student members.
TAPPI's General Rules of Antitrust Compliance forbid the use of any TAPPI activity, including plant tours, for the purpose of exchanging competitive information.
In order to assure compliance with TAPPI's antitrust policy and general rules in connection with plant tours, the TAPPI Board of Directors has adopted the following supplemental guidelines to cover the plant tour portion of TAPPI programs:
1. Participation in plant tours should be limited to meeting registrants.
2. Plant tours should not include any discussion or exchange of competitive information.
3.Participants in plant tours should not under any circumstances discuss or otherwise disclose proprietary information.
4. Plant tour participants should not divulge to each other any operating data which could be used to reveal competitive information.
5.参观工厂的参与者可以讨论特定工艺或设备项目的生产能力，但不得讨论主工厂或任何其他生产商对这些生产能力的计划利用。
6. Plant tour participants may discuss production cost savings which may be effected through the use of a particular process or piece of equipment, but may not discuss the overall production costs of the host plant or any other producer.
7. The plant tour is to be conducted in compliance with TAPPI's Antitrust and Plant Tour Guidelines outlined in this document, as well as the rules and directives of the host plant.
While TAPPI encourages participation by all registrants for the plant tour, a host plant may decide to restrict or limit tour participation. It is the responsibility of those arranging plant tours to inform affected registrants of the restrictions as far in advance of the tour date as possible.
TAPPI
15 Technology Parkway South, Suite 115
Peachtree Corners, GA 30092
USAPhone: 770-446-1400
Fax: 770-446-6947
Updated 07-2018