Trade associations are perfectly lawful organizations. However, since a trade association is, by definition, an organization of competitors, OpenTravel Alliance (OpenTravel) members must take precautions to ensure that we do not engage in activities which can be interpreted as violating anti-trust or other unfair competition laws. For any activity which is deemed to unreasonably restrain trade, OpenTravel, its members and individual representatives may be subject to severe legal penalties, regardless of our otherwise beneficial objectives. It is important to realize, therefore, that an action that may seem to make “good business sense” can injure competition and therefore be prohibited under the antitrust or unfair competition laws. To ensure that we conduct all meetings and gatherings in strict compliance with any such laws and agreements in any part of the world, the OpenTravel Code of Conduct is to be distributed and/or read aloud at all such gatherings.
There shall be no discussion of rates, fares, surcharges, conditions, terms or prices of services, allocating or sharing of customers, or refusing to deal with a particular supplier or class of suppliers. Neither serious nor flippant remarks about such subjects will be permitted. OpenTravel shall not issue recommendations about any of the above subjects or distribute to its members any publication concerning such matters. No discussions that directly or indirectly fix purchase or selling prices may take place. There shall be no discussions of members, marketing, pricing or service plans. All OpenTravel related meetings shall be conducted in accordance with a previously prepared and distributed agenda. If you are uncomfortable about the direction that you believe a discussion is heading, you should say so promptly. Members may have varying views about issues that OpenTravel deals with. They are encouraged to express themselves in OpenTravel activities. However, official OpenTravel communications to the public are the sole responsibility of the OpenTravel Board of Directors. To avoid creating confusion among the public, therefore, the Board must approve press releases and any other forms of official OpenTravel communications to the public before they are released.