---
title: "Competitor contact and information-sharing protocol (trade associations, joint ventures, benchmarking and clean teams)"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/competition-and-consumer-law/competitor-contact-information-sharing-protocol"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a29-competitor-contact-information-sharing-protocol"
area_id: "A29"
kind: "policy"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
task_ids: ["A29-T1-R3", "A29-A20260923-2", "A29-A20260923-3"]
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-18"
---

# Competitor contact and information-sharing protocol (trade associations, joint ventures, benchmarking and clean teams)

> Protocol for staff who deal with competitors: what must never be discussed or exchanged, rules for industry association meetings and benchmarking, a clean-team procedure for deal or joint venture information, logging…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/competition-and-consumer-law/competitor-contact-information-sharing-protocol  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-18

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

Protocol for staff who deal with competitors: what must never be discussed or exchanged, rules for industry association meetings and benchmarking, a clean-team procedure for deal or joint venture information, logging contacts, and what to do if a competitor raises prices or bids.

## Key facts

- Kind: Policy. A policy or procedure for a firm or client.
- Practice area: [Competition & Consumer Law](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/competition-and-consumer-law.md)
- Jurisdictions: Australia
- AI level: Yellow. AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-18
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-18 against the authority it cites, for Australia.

## When to use it

Adopt for any business whose staff meet competitors through industry associations, joint ventures, supply or co-tendering arrangements, benchmarking surveys or M&A due diligence. Use it with the competition law compliance policy and the algorithmic pricing policy in this library.

## Used for these tasks

- [Build an information-exchange and concerted-practices screen](https://ailawframework.com/practice/competition-and-consumer-law/build-an-information-exchange-and-concerted-practices-screen.md)
- [Extract competitor contacts and meeting notes into a clean-team log](https://ailawframework.com/practice/competition-and-consumer-law.md#A29-A20260923-2)
- [Compare a collaboration or JV paper with the no-poach and information-sharing rules](https://ailawframework.com/practice/competition-and-consumer-law.md#A29-A20260923-3)

## How AI may be used

AI may maintain the competitor contact log and flag agenda items or documents that touch prohibited topics; the lawyer decides what may be shared, approves clean-team members and handles any suspected cartel conduct.

**AI may:**

- Log competitor contacts from calendars and meeting notes into the register in this protocol, for staff to confirm
- Flag agenda items, emails or data requests that mention prices, margins, customers, territories, capacity, bids or wages, for legal review
- Check that benchmarking data received is aggregated and historical as the protocol requires, and flag exceptions

**AI must not:**

- Must not decide whether a contact or exchange is lawful
- Must not receive or process a competitor’s competitively sensitive information outside the approved clean team
- Must not be used to monitor or match competitors’ prices in a way that substitutes for independent pricing decisions

**The lawyer checks:**

- Each joint venture, co-tender or collaboration has been assessed for the cartel provisions and any exception before information is exchanged
- Clean-team members are named, have no pricing or bidding role for the period, and have signed the undertaking
- Industry association agendas were reviewed before the meeting and minutes after it
- Any report of a competitor raising prices, customers, bids or capacity is escalated to legal on the day, and immunity is considered if the business may be involved

## Authorities

- [ACCC, Cartels (price fixing, market sharing, controlling output and bid rigging; formal, informal and signalled agreements; penalties including jail for up to 10 years; immunity and cooperation policy)](https://www.accc.gov.au/business/competition-and-exemptions/cartels)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/competition-and-consumer-law/competitor-contact-information-sharing-protocol and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*