New EU Rules Adopted For Supply And Distribution Agreements

The new EU regime for vertical agreements confirms and clarifies case law and practice on permissible restrictions on online resellers (although it appears to be stricter on the sorts of products which can now be covered by a selective distribution system), introduces a new market share threshold on buyers, reveals an apparent (limited) loosening of the strict rules on RPM, and introduces new guidance on common modern retail practices, such as category management and upfront access payments.

Legislation governing the regulation of supply and distribution agreements has been adopted by the European Commission (the "Commission"). This takes the form of a new Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation ("BER") and associated guidelines and will apply as from 1 June 2010. The new rules replace and update the existing block exemption and guidelines which have been in force for 10 years.