On Monday 17 April, the European Commission announced that the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation (MVBER), which was due to expire on 31 May 2023, has been extended until 31 May 2028.
In addition, on 12 April, the European Commission updated the supplementary guidelines on vertical restraints in motor vehicle sales and repairs and spare part distribution agreements (2010/C 138/05).
The aim of the revised guidelines is to limit certain behaviours that may harm competition in the car repair sector.
The guidelines therefore intend to limit the abusive use of legal or extended warranties to exclude independent repairers, as well as behaviour that makes access to authorised repairer networks conditional on non-qualitative criteria.
In particular, the revised guidelines state that data generated by vehicle sensors can be a key input for the provision of repair and maintenance services.
When assessing whether to deny access of operators to inputs such as vehicle-generated data, providers should apply the principle of proportionality.
Finally, Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which prohibits abuse of a dominant position, might be applicable in the case of a unilateral refusal by a supplier to provide access to inputs.
Link to the guidelines: https://aeur.eu/f/6cc (Original version in French by Emilie Vanderhulst)