Code of Conduct – BioPhorum information sharing ( v5.1 )

Introduction

BioPhorum Operations Group (BioPhorum) is a cross industry collaboration with the aim of sharing best practice in the area of Operational Excellence. Participation in BioPhorum is restricted to authorized member company representatives as described in the Principles of Membership Agreement.

While sharing information is central to the process of this collaboration, it is important to understand what information is appropriate to share. Our companies have a great deal of confidential information and intellectual property that should not be shared within BioPhorum.

This document seeks to guide the reader so that the individuals and companies involved follow the correct code of conduct and problems are avoided. It is the clear and stated intention of BioPhorum that the Group and its activities are conducted at all times in full compliance with relevant competition/anti-trust rules.

Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of every person who participates in a BioPhorum event or sharing activity to make sure they are aware of what information is appropriate to share.

When sharing third party documents on The BioPhorum Hub (or other IT systems), participants should use links to documents to avoid breaching copyright requirements.

The BioPhorum facilitators are responsible for reminding all participants of their obligations with respect to information sharing and will ensure that the relevant watermark will be included on documents.

Participants should not share outside workstream/Phorum teams unpublished material including but not limited to:

• Ask BioPhorum or survey responses including summary data
• Meeting preparation material or minutes of BioPhorum meetings
• Draft papers (including but not exclusively documents currently marked Membership draft)
• Individual opinions of representatives or their companies spoken at BioPhorum meetings
• Industry feedback captured using tools such as virtual whiteboards, polls or surveys.

Members can share BioPhorum confidential information (including documents marked Membership published) within their own organization, but the key contact (L2) for each member should ensure confidentiality and that IP issues are highlighted to their colleagues and all applicable company policies regarding external collaboration and public disclosure are adhered to.​ All participants  are responsible for vetting information to be shared via their company’s public disclosure review processes and that all information shared is free of any ‘Confidential’ label .​

Participants’ contact details

• Every person who participates in the BioPhorum collaboration will have access to the business contact details of other participants. These details should only be used for making contact with other participants in matters that relate directly to their work in BioPhorum.
• Use of these contact details by participants in the following circumstances is prohibited:
• Compilation of mailing lists and advertising or marketing of any kind
• Creating a database of contact details in any circumstances
• Recruitment and job advertising
• Participants who are unsure as to whether their use of contact information is acceptable or not should refer to their BioPhorum representative.

Sharing information

The following list is representative of the types of disclosures commonly allowed by corporate policies. BioPhorum participants should review their company policies to ensure they are in compliance prior to any disclosures. Information in the following areas is typically allowed:

• Operational excellence best practice models
• Management approaches and philosophies
• Organizing and planning ways of working
• Non-product or process specific generic operating procedures
• Information in the public domain
• Information provided by suppliers which would ordinarily be shared with customers
• Non-product or process specific generic engineering or technical information relating to process equipment
• General learning and ‘context’ conclusions from QA and Regulatory activity

Sharing information from the following areas is typically prohibited by corporate policies

• Product related information
• Product related process data which constitutes intellectual property
• Specific audit or regulatory inspection findings or observations
• Product specific analytical methods
• Specific cost numbers where a market advantage may result or a supplier might be disadvantaged
• Information that is marked as confidential by the member company or a supplier
• Price information of any type
• Proprietary information including intellectual property and patented processes and equipment.

BioPhorum event participants should direct all questions regarding information disclosure to their L2 BioPhorum representatives or corporate legal departments