Making sense of competition law compliance - A practical guide for SMEs

Understanding the key principles of competition law is essential for any company when it makes a decision on sales strategy, pricing policy, distribution channels and many other commercial topics. BusinessEurope's booklet presents this important but complex subject in an easy, practical manner. It is not intented to provide you with the means to act as your own legal adviser and does not replace expert knowledge and legal assistance where appropriate. Purpose of this booklet is to help you:

• avoid violations of competition law which might result in severe sanctions and loss of reputation;
• avoid 'over-compliance' just to be on the safe side, which might result in missed business opportunities;
• identify those situations where legal assistance may be the best option.

Part 1 outlines the key elements and principles of competition law. Part 2 helps you raise awareness of competition law in your organisation. All together, these guidelines aim to facilitate executive understanding and guide the reader into the basic steps towards competition compliance.

BusinessEurope takes no responsibility whatsoever for misuse of the information provided in the document. We strongly condemn any kind of competition law violation.