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Policy Statements

IHEA Policy Statement on Meetings

Meetings are gatherings of members at which the Association's business is transacted and represent the opportunity to legitimately further the Association's goals. Because a trade association is, by definition, a combination of competitors, IHEA meetings must be conducted to avoid even the appearance that members are taking common action which might unreasonably restrain trade.

IHEA meetings are carefully structured and monitored. An agenda is prepared and circulated in advance, and is carefully followed at the meeting. An IHEA staff member attends all IHEA meetings and is responsible for preparing the minutes of each meeting. IHEA counsel attends all Association membership meetings, Board meetings, and other Association meetings at which sensitive issues are discussed and counsel reviews the minutes of these meetings. There are no informal meetings of the Association or any of its committees; discussion of Association matters must never occur outside of formal meetings.

It is difficult to delineate in a set of guidelines the permissible limits of discussion at an IHEA meeting because so much is dependent upon the context in which any particular subject is to be raised. However, to avoid the most sensitive areas, there should never be a discussion of the following at an IHEA meeting:

Price or any elements of price policies, including costs.
Discounts, terms and conditions of sale, warranty terms, profits, market shares, sales territories, and rejection of termination of customers.
Identified individual company statistics, inventories, or merchandising methods.
Particular competitors.
Anything dealing with trade abuses or excluding or controlling competition.

By following these guidelines, the members can meet to transact lawful Association business for the betterment of our industries.