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Responding to a public consultation, ICC evaluated the updated European Commission guidelines for horizontal cooperation agreements (HGL) and block exemption regulations (HBERs), urging the consideration of small business needs and imperative for increased clarity and legal certainty.
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With a longstanding pivotal role in driving business priorities, ICC gathered business views on one of the most significant European reforms in competition and several types of cooperation agreements relating to R&D, specialisation, purchase, commercialisation, information exchange, standardisation and sustainability.
In the comments, ICC
- acknowledges and supports the positive changes made and considers them as important progress in the assessment of horizontal agreements compared to previous versions.
- highlights the importance of catering to the needs of small business.
- welcomes the clearer guidance and potential benefits for small business in providing legal certainty
- suggests the reintroduction of comfort letters by the European Commission.
- notes the adoption of a revised informal guidance notice, which allows businesses to seek guidance on applying EU competition rules.
- addresses specific provisions of the R&D Block Exemption Regulation, emphasising the importance of agreements related to innovation competition.
- advocates for increasing market share thresholds across the instruments to maximise the number of companies benefitting from the rules and to align them with other areas of competition law.
While the feedback and recommendations were intended for the European Commission to help develop and refine the guidelines for horizontal cooperation agreements and block exemption regulations, the comments are also relevant to
businesses seeking to gain a better understanding of the potential implications of the guidelines and regulations on their own horizontal cooperation agreements
public authorities and regulators responsible for enforcing competition law and overseeing horizontal cooperation agreements
Should you have any further questions, contact us.
Read also our summary of the final guidelines, including ICC recommendations that were taken into account in the final text.
