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Respect for free competition

Background

Violation of antitrust and competition laws is punishable by fines imposed on the company and on the implicated individuals and may result in damage claims. In certain countries, serious violations such as illegal agreements on price-fixing or on allocating markets with competitors could be punishable by prison sentences for those involved. Problems associated with competition and with antitrust activities may arise both from contacts that Sanofi maintains with our competitors and from our relationships with suppliers and customers. Over the past three years the pharmaceutical sector has been under scrutiny by European Commission. In 2009, following the release of its final report on the pharmaceutical sector enquiry, the European Commission initiated yearly monitoring of pharmaceutical patent settlement agreements between originator companies and generic companies in order to ensure that settlements are not concluded to limit or delay the market entry of generic drugs.

Policy

In the Group’s contacts with competitors, or “horizontal agreements,” Sanofi employees may never address the following:

• Price-fixing: tariffs, standards, discounts, conditions for promotions and invoicing, margins, reductions, rebates
• Product information: marketing projects and strategies
• Production: industrial capacity, logistics, product quality
• Allocation of markets: by geographical zone, by customer, or by therapeutic area
• Financial information: costs of goods and services purchased or products, profits, margins
• Intention to submit (or not) a bid in a call for tender
• Existing agreements or contracts with a supplier or a customer

Within the scope of relationships with suppliers as well as customers, or so-called “vertical agreements,” any practice of a discriminatory nature as well as boycotting are violations of competition rules and antitrust laws in most countries.

In practical terms, this is what Sanofi requires of Group employees:

• To respect legal and regulatory measures, both national and international, concerning the right to free competition
• When attending forums, seminars or any other meetings, to avoid informal contact with competitors in order to avoid discussing subjects that could be likely to violate antitrust laws. If one or more competitors were to raise such a topic, employees are asked to express their reluctance to continue the discussion. They must not hesitate to state their unwillingness to address a specific topic, and bring an end to the conversation.
• To contact their supervisor or the Legal Department if they have questions or doubts.

For more information:

• Sanofi Code of Ethics

Actions

Training and awareness
To raise employees’ awareness on free competition matters an ethical moment is available on the Global Compliance intranet.