- within Antitrust/Competition Law topic(s)
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- with readers working within the Pharmaceuticals & BioTech industries
On November 18, 2025, the Dutch Competition Authority (ACM) published another informal guidance letter regarding a sustainability collaboration initiative – this time in the metal industry.1
This initiative brings together businesses, sector organizations, trade unions, and civil society groups active in the Dutch metal industry under an agreement on International Responsible Business Conduct (IRBC).2
What Does the Collaboration Involve?
Participants commit to:
- Identifying and assessing risks to humans, animals, and the environment in their production and supply chains, and publicly reporting on these risks
- Participating in training programs and sharing experiences on ensuring compliance with European sustainability regulations
- Achieving measurable progress on responsible business conduct
ACM's Assessment
Consistent with previous guidance, the ACM concluded that the collaboration does not pose an appreciable risk to competition in the Netherlands, provided that participants continue to make independent decisions regarding their supply chains and companies remain free to pursue additional sustainability efforts beyond those required by the initiative.
Safeguards for Competition Relating to Competitively Sensitive Information
The initiative includes several measures to protect competitively sensitive information, offering a practical example of what satisfies regulators:
- An independent Secretariat plays a key role in ensuring
compliance:
- Collects participants' action plans and production site lists, then shares them in an aggregated and non-reversible form
- Receives individual business data used to monitor progress
- Monitors meetings to prevent discussion of sensitive topics such as wages or cost structures
- Confidentiality Commitments: Civil society organizations receiving individual plans or other sensitive information refrain from sharing them and would sign confidentiality agreements.
Why It Matters
This case illustrates how sustainability collaborations can align with competition law when structured carefully. It also provides a blueprint for managing sensitive information in multi-stakeholder initiatives.
Footnotes
1. Press Release, ACM: Businesses in the metals sector can collaborate in order to make the sector more sustainable, November 18, 2025.
2. For background, IRBC originally consists of recommendations published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and has become the blueprint for many European sustainability regulations, such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive or the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. See OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct (2023).
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