16.122010

Revised EU Competition rules on horizontal co-operation agreements adopted

The European Commission has revised its rules for the assessment of co-operation agreements between competitors, so called horizontal co-operation agreements. The new rules, which consist of the Horizontal Guidelines and the two Commission Regulations on R&D Agreements and Specialisation Agreements, were adopted on 14 December 2010. The Regulations will enter into force as of 1st January 2011, whereas the Horizontal Guidelines shall apply from their publication in the EU Official Journal. Modifications concern mainly the areas of information exchange, standardisation and research and development. A transitional period of two years applies, during which the previous Regulations will remain in force for such agreements that fulfil the conditions of those Regulations but do not fall under the new Regulations.

For more information and access to the legislation, see Commission press release IP/10/1702