The European Commission launched, on Wednesday 6 July, a public consultation and call for evidence inviting all interested parties to comment on its draft proposals for the future of the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation (‘MVBER’) regime.
These proposals include a draft Regulation prolonging the validity of the existing MVBER for five years and a draft Communication introducing targeted updates to the Supplementary Guidelines.
The MVBER expires on 31 May 2023. Interested parties are invited to submit their comments on the draft rules by 30 September 2022.
The proposed amendments aim to:
- keep the MVBER in place for five additional years and therefore continue to facilitate companies’ self-assessment of their vertical agreements in the automotive sector with EU competition rules;
- make it clear that vehicle-generated data may be an essential input for repair and maintenance services. These amendments will provide clarity for companies concerning the way the Commission views issues related to access to data generated by the cars’ sensors when assessing vertical agreements between vehicle manufacturers and their authorised networks under Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
The Commission proposes to extend the existing principles to the provision of technical information, tools and training necessary for the provision of repair and maintenance services to explicitly cover vehicle-generated data.
For details of the proposals: https://aeur.eu/f/2hz (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)