National and/or EU Competition rules apply to all industries and all market players, irrespective of their size, i.e. being a large, medium or small enterprise. The obligation to comply with the relevant rules extends not only to the management of the companies, which takes the decisions in their interest, but also to all the employees, who must be provided directions and receive adequate training with a view to implementing efficiently the decisions of the management.

Failure to comply with competition rules entails the risk of incurring high fines and other significant negative consequences, including potentially irreparable damages to the name and reputation of a company.

In  order to ensure effective  compliance, companies  should  think ahead, develop an approach specifically designed to cover their particular situation and business activities, and set it out in writing, rather than react to problems only when they arise. Furthermore, commitment to compliance must come from the top down: senior management, including the BoD, need to demonstrate at every opportunity a clear commitment to competition law compliance.

Everyone should remember that  the business activities and behavior of today may be investigated and evaluated many years later in a completely different political, financial, regulatory, and business environment.

Get our unique service of Competition Compliance Due Diligence and let us contribute substantially to your efforts of attaining compliance, and establishing an effective compliance culture in your business.

Our service includes:

• Risk identification:
  • Inspection of contracts, documents, etc., to identify whether they include potentially risky provisions
  • Evaluation of business behavior in the market by employees at all levels (contacts with competitors/potential competitors, participation in associations meetings, exchange of information, etc.)
  • Evaluation of unilateral behavior in cases of market dominance
• Risk evaluation:
  • Risk categorization
  • Identification of employees carrying out activities in high risk areas, and provision of specific guidance and training
• Risk mitigation:
  • Setting up internal handbooks, policies, procedures, and training material and sessions, with a view to ensuring that the identified risks do not occur
  • Setting up the right procedures to detect, investigate and efficiently deal with competition risks that eventually do occur
• Review:
  • Regular review of the situation, i.e. every six months
  • Reviews outside the regular cycle, on special occasions, i.e. M&A activities, investigations by the competition authority.

Our Competition Compliance Due Diligence Service is a tailor made service designed by top experts that combine different expertise and point of views and  aiming to make your business ‘bullet proof’ against local and EU authorities as well as against your competition.