Antitrust and competition laws are generally designed to promote fair competition and to ensure that businesses compete on the basis of quality, price and service. Amgen will not tolerate any business transaction or activity that violates the antitrust and competition laws of any country in which the company conducts business.
Generally, U.S. and European Union (EU) law prohibit agreements or actions that might unreasonably restrain competition or bring about a monopoly (in the U.S.) or abuse a strong market position (in the EU).
Individual European countries, Japan, Canada, Australia, and a number of other countries have similar laws. These laws may be known as antitrust, monopoly, fair trade or cartel laws.
Please refer to Amgen’s current Antitrust and Unfair Competition Policy for additional details regarding the policy and the obligations of individuals subject to the policy.
Listed below are several practices that in the past have been found to violate antitrust statutes. This is not an exhaustive list. Because of the complexity and changing interpretations of most antitrust statutes, as well as the complexity resulting from the interface of antitrust and patent laws, Amgen staff members at all Amgen sites should immediately seek the advice of the Law Department if they are about to engage in or are confronted with a situation that they believe may violate the antitrust laws.
Antitrust – Dealing with Competitors
Competitors are not permitted to agree among themselves to fix or control prices. To avoid an appearance of collusion, you should never engage in communications with a competitor about price, pricing policies, bids, costs, discounts, promotions, terms of sale, credit terms, freight charges or royalties. In addition, you should not agree with a competitor to divide up sales territories or to allocate customers. You should refrain from engaging in conversations or agreements that might give the impression that you are agreeing with a competitor to divide up customer lists, sales territories or a particular customer’s business.
Discussions or agreements with competitors that would control the rate of production of a product are also prohibited. In addition, you should avoid agreements with a competitor’s supplier not to sell to or to buy from particular individuals or firms.
If you are asked by a competitor to enter into an illegal or questionable agreement or to share information about Amgen practices, you should take the following actions:
This policy applies to every Amgen staff member, at all Amgen sites.
Antitrust – Dealing with Customers
Agreements in which the Company limits the individuals or firms from whom it will purchase goods or services, or attempts to limit its customers’ rights to purchase goods and services from others, may be illegal. In addition, attempts to tie the purchase of one product to an agreement to purchase another product may also be illegal. Moreover, except in some circumstances, it is illegal for the Company to have an agreement or understanding with distributors about the prices the reseller will charge its customers. It may also be illegal to discriminate with respect to price, discounts or allow-ances among competing customers.
As a general practice disparaging competitors to customers. Statements concerning competitors that cannot be substantiated may violate unfair competition statutes. Never urge a customer to violate a contract with a competitor. Because of the complexity of the antitrust laws, whenever staff members are engaged in pricing negotiations or bid situations they should consult existing pricing policy guidelines and, when in doubt, contact the Law Department for additional guidance.
This policy applies to every Amgen staff member, at all Amgen sites.
