Commission Adopts New Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations And Horizontal Guidelines

On 1 June 2023 the EU Commission adopted its new horizontal block exemption Regulations (covering R&D agreements and Specialisation agreements) and Horizontal Guidelines (Guidelines). The new block exemption Regulations will apply as of 1 July 2023 (with a transitional period of two years for agreements that meet the conditions of the current block exemptions) and the new Guidelines will take effect once they have been published in the Official Journal. The new Guidelines are far more detailed than the current ones (178 pages long as opposed to the current version at 72 pages) and provide more extensive guidance with additional practical examples. There is also a new chapter on sustainability agreements, new sections on mobile telecoms infrastructure sharing agreements and on bidding consortia and the chapter on information exchange has been substantially rewritten.