I. Free and Fair Competition
Most countries have well-developed bodies of law designed to encourage and protect free and fair competition. The Company is committed to obeying both the letter and spirit of these laws. The consequences of not doing so can be severe. These laws often regulate the Company's relationships with its distributors, resellers, dealers, and customers. Competition laws generally address the following areas: pricing practices (including price discrimination), discounting, terms of sale, credit terms, promotional allowances, secret rebates, exclusive dealerships or distributorships, product bundling, restrictions on carrying competing products, termination, and many other practices. Competition laws also govern, usually quite strictly, relationships between the Company and its competitors. As a general rule, contacts with competitors should be limited and should always avoid subjects such as prices or other terms and conditions of sale, customers, and suppliers. Employees, agents or contra ctors of the Company may not knowingly make false or misleading statements regarding its competitors or the products of its competitors, customers or suppliers. Participating with competitors in a trade association or in a standards creation body is acceptable when the association has been properly established, has a legitimate purpose, and has limited its activities to that purpose. No employee, agent or contractor shall at any time or under any circumstances enter into an agreement or understanding, written or oral, express or implied, with any competitor concerning prices, discounts, other terms or conditions of sale, profits or profit margins, costs, allocation of product or geographic markets, allocation of customers, limitations on production, boycotts of customers or suppliers, or bids or the intent to bid or even discuss or exchange information on these subjects. In some cases, legitimate joint ventures with competitors may permit exceptions to these rules as may bona fide purchases from or sale s to competitors on non-competitive products, but the Company's Legal Department must review all such proposed ventures in advance. These prohibitions are absolute and strict observance is required. Collusion among competitors is illegal, and the consequences of a violation are severe. Although the spirit of these laws, known as "antitrust," "competition," or "consumer protection" or unfair competition laws, is straightforward, their application to particular situations can be quite complex. To ensure that the Company complies fully with these laws, each of us should have a basic knowledge of them and should involve our Legal Department early on when questionable situations arise.
J. Industrial Espionage
It is the Company's policy to lawfully compete in the marketplace. This commitment to fairness includes respecting the rights of our competitors and abiding by all applicable laws in the course of competing. The purpose of this policy is to maintain the Company's reputation as a lawful competitor and to help ensure the integrity of the competitive marketplace. The Company expects its competitors to respect our rights to compete lawfully in the marketplace, and we must respect their rights equally. Company employees, agents and contractors may not steal or unlawfully use the information, material, products, intellectual property, or proprietary or confidential information of anyone including suppliers, customers, business partners or competitors.
5: Waivers
Any waiver of any provision of this Code of Business Conduct and Ethics for a member of the Company's Board of Directors or an executive officer must be approved in writing by the Company's Board of Directors and promptly disclosed. Any waiver of any provision of this Code of Business Conduct and Ethics with respect any other employee, agent or contractor must be approved in writing by the Company's General Counsel.
6: Disciplinary Actions
The matters covered in this Code of Business Conduct and Ethics are of the utmost importance to the Company, its stockholders and its business partners, and are essential to the Company's ability to conduct its business in accordance with its stated values. We expect all of our employees, agents, contractors and consultants to adhere to these rules in carrying out their duties for the Company. The Company will take appropriate action against any employee, agent, contractor or consultant whose actions are found to violate these policies or any other policies of the Company. Disciplinary actions may include immediate termination of employment or business relationship at the Company's sole discretion. Where the Company has suffered a loss, it may pursue its remedies against the individuals or entities responsible. Where laws have been violated, the Company will cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities.
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