On Tuesday, 10 May, the European Commission adopted the new Block Exemption Regulation for vertical agreements, along with the new guidelines on vertical agreements.
The [Vertical] Block Exemption Regulation and the revised Vertical Guidelines will enter into force on 1 June 2022.
In charge of competition policy, Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager stated, “The new rules will provide companies with up-to-date guidance that is fit for an even more digitalised decade ahead. The rules are important tools that will help all types of businesses, including small and medium enterprises, to assess their vertical agreements in their daily business”.
The Block Exemption Regulation exempts agreements between companies that are active at different levels of the production or distribution chain from the prohibition in Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, subject to certain conditions. Thus, the rules provide for a safe harbour where certain agreements enjoy a block exemption.
The main changes to the previous rules concern adjusting the safe harbour so that it is neither too generous nor too narrow. In particular, the new rules
narrow the scope of the safe harbour with respect to dual distribution and parity obligations. This means that certain aspects of dual distribution and certain types of parity obligations will no longer be exempt under the new [Vertical] Block Exemption Regulation; rather, they must be assessed individually under Article 101 TFEU.
The new rules also broaden the scope of the safe harbour with regard to certain restrictions on a buyer’s ability to actively approach individual customers (active sales and certain practices relating to online sales).
The rules concerning the assessment of online restrictions, vertical agreements in the platform economy, and agreements that pursue sustainability objectives have been updated.
Link to the regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/1kd (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)