In this issue: On April 20, 2010 the Commission adopted a new Block Exemption Regulation applicable to vertical agreements. At the same time, it adopted the contents of accompanying Guidelines on vertical restraints. In a special two-part series, organized by Ioannis Lianos, we’re publishing nine comments. We lead off with four DG Comp experts presenting […]

Liza Bellulo, Umberto Berkani, Valerie Meunier, Jun 30, 2010 On April 20, 2010, The European Commission adopted a new Block Exemption Regulation on vertical restraints and its supplementary Guidelines. They replace the corresponding texts that dated back from 1999 and provide a new framework for analyzing distribution agreements for the next twelve years. The main […]

Ioannis Lianos, Jul 07, 2010 By integrating more fully the retailer power story, the new vertical restraints guidelines and block exemption regulation provide for a more equilibrated regime for vertical restraints in Europe. The objective of the Commission was not only to address the important concern of retailer power and its possible anticompetitive effects in […]

Paul Lugard, Theon van Dijk, Jul 07, 2010 Today, more than 10 years after the adoption of Regulation 2790/1999, much has changed. First, while the adoption of Regulation 279/1999 marked a more favorable reception of economic insights in EU competition law, those insights have, to some extent, subsequently been laid down in the Article 81(3) […]

Kyriakos Fountoukakos, Kristien Geeurickx, Jun 30, 2010 The new verticals block exemption Regulation and Guidelines came into force on June 1, 2010. Agreements which as of May 31, 2010 satisfied the exemption criteria of Regulation 2790/99 will continue to be exempt for another year, but any new agreements will need to comply with the new […]

Filippo Amato, Jun 30, 2010 Various questions arise with regard to the type of internet sales restrictions that a supplier can impose upon its distributors. For instance, should internet sales be qualified as active or passive sales? Can a supplier impose an outright ban on internet sales upon its distributors and, if the answer is […]

Gregory Pelecanos, Jun 14, 2010 On May 27, 2010 the Commission adopted Regulation (EU) No. 461/2010 “on the application of Article 101 (3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to categories of vertical agreements and concerted practices in the motor vehicle sector.” In so doing, it extended the life of Reg. […]

Magdalena Brenning-Louko, Andrei Gurin, Luc Peeperkorn, Katja Vierti, Jun 14, 2010 On 20 April 2010 the Commission adopted a new Block Exemption Regulation applicable to vertical agreements (hereinafter “the Regulation”). At the same time it adopted the contents of accompanying Guidelines on vertical restraints (“the Guidelines”), which were subsequently formally adopted in all official languages […]

Andrew Gavil, Jun 14, 2010 The conventional wisdom today holds that the federal law of vertical restraints in the United States has been “harmonized.” Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Leegin, the nearly century-old per se rule that absolutely banned minimum resale price maintenance (“RPM”) has been abandoned. The more economically sound […]

Yves Botteman, Kees Jan Kuilwijk, Jun 14, 2010 During its recent revision of rules regarding vertical agreements, which culminated in a revised block exemption for certain such agreements and new Guidelines on Vertical Restraints, European Commission initiated a debate on the treatment of (minimum) resale price maintenance (“RPM”) under EU competition rules. From the perspective […]