New Competition Law Rules For Distribution Agreements - The New Vertical Block Exemption Regulation

New competition law rules for distribution agreements - the new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation

1. Introduction

After a long consultation period, the European Commission recently published the new Block Exemption Regulation for Vertical Agreements (Regulation (EU) 2022/720 "VBER"). The regulation will enter into force on 1 June 2022. New Guidelines on vertical restraints ("Guidelines") will accompany the new VBER. Both replace the previous set of rules from 2010. Agreements which comply with the old VBER will benefit from a transitional period until 31 May 2023 before compliance with the new VBER becomes mandatory in order to benefit from the exemption.

The Commission's aim in revising the rules was to bring them in line with new market developments, especially in the digital economy. Although the number of changes is limited, they have great practical relevance especially (but not only) for online and dual distribution.