An Effective, Practical Approach to International Competition Law Compliance

Kent Bernard, Member, Bar of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., Kent Bernard

The traditional approach to antitrust or competition law compliance is to start with the parade of horribles that can flow from a violation (jail, fines, damages, bad press), then stress the need for formal policies and responsibilities, and finally look at enforcement. I would like to suggest a different way of reaching the goal that compliance sets out to achieve - obeying the law, controlling risk, and providing the most effective means of learning about and curing any violations. An effective international competition law compliance program has to deal with three sets of moving parts: (a) The law itself, and the variations among countries; (b) The need for any major corporation to have procedures in place assure that at least a good faith attempt at compliance is made (no compliance program that involves human beings has ever been perfect); and (c) The need to have people communicate and function effectively together.

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USA Competition Pharmaceutical April 2008 Vol. 1, No. 3, Spring 2008

Kent Bernard

Kent S. Bernard retired as Vice President & Assistant General Counsel of Pfizer Inc. at the end of 2007. Kent started at Pfizer as an antitrust litigation attorney in 1980. He then represented Pfizer’s bulk chemical operations, later becoming the senior lawyer for Pfizer’s worldwide animal health business, all the while continuing to work on antitrust and competition law matters. In the course of his M&A work Kent helped acquire Schneider Medintag, a maker of sophisticated interventional cardiology devices that grew to become the most profitable company within the Pfizer Medical Devices group. Kent then served as General Counsel to that business, before actively assisting in negotiating its sale out of Pfizer, after the decision to divest those businesses, some years later. At the time of his retirement Kent was the head of the Pfizer Antitrust Group, advising on all antitrust functions and antitrust litigation, as well as competition law matters worldwide. He also was the Deputy Managing Partner of the Pfizer Legal Division. In his antitrust and competition law capacity, Kent worked in planning, structuring, clearing and implementing business arrangements on a worldwide basis. He also advised on a competition law investigations, as well as antitrust litigation with both government agencies and private parties. Kent is a magna cum Laude 1975 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School where he was an Article Editor of the Law Review. He began his career in Philadelphia as an attorney in private practice. He then went in-house, and in the 1980, joined the Legal Division at Pfizer.

Kent Bernard

USA Competition Pharmaceutical April 2008 Vol. 1, No. 3, Spring 2008