A competitor asks about your future prices. How should you respond?
At a trade association meeting, a discussion about rising costs turns into a question: “How much are you putting your prices up in January?” Even a rough figure can help a competitor anticipate your next move. Planned prices, discounts and the timing of changes are commercially sensitive.
Decline the question and return to the agenda
You can say: “We don't discuss future pricing with competitors. Let's go back to the agenda.” Avoid giving a range or asking what others intend to do. A one-way disclosure of future pricing can raise competition concerns even without a signed agreement.
If the discussion continues, clearly distance yourself, leave and ask for your objection and departure to be recorded in the minutes. If the approach came by email, reject it and avoid circulating the information for use in pricing decisions.
Keep a record of what happened
Note who was present, what was said and how you responded. Preserve the invitation, agenda, minutes and relevant messages. Tell your legal or competition compliance contact. Keep any future pricing information disclosed at the meeting out of subsequent commercial decisions.
Review the agenda before the next meeting
Ask for an agenda in advance and flag sensitive items with the organiser. The competition risks of an industry statistics exercise depend, among other things, on how old the data is, how it is aggregated and whether participants can infer a particular firm's strategy. Review the design before setting up a regular data exchange.
Czech Competition Authority – Information exchanges between competitors · European Commission – Horizontal cooperation guidelines, chapter 6