The New Block Exemption Regulation And Horizontal Guidelines On Research & Development Agreements

On 1 June 2023, the European Commission (EC) adopted the revised block exemption regulations on research and development (R&D BER) and specialisation agreements, as well as the revised guidelines on horizontal cooperation (Horizontal Guidelines). The updated EC regulations will enter into force on 1 July 2023 and will remain valid until 30 June 2035.

During a transitional period of 2 years, agreements that do not meet the requirements of the new regulations while meeting the conditions of one of the previous block exemptions can continue to benefit.

The new R&D BER introduces clarifications and flexibility to provide more guidance on the application of the exemption. To improve readability the EC has changed the regulation's structure so that provisions on the access to pre-existing know how and on joint exploitation of research results are contained in separate articles. The terms "active sales" and "passive sales" are now defined explicitly. The EC has also