Competitor Contacts Condoned – New Guidance on Agreements Between Competitors

The European Commission has published a draft of its revised guidelines on the applicability of competition law to agreements between competitors. These new provisions are the latest step in the European Commission's programme to update all competition law legislation and guidance and follow the new block exemption for vertical agreements which came into force earlier this year.

Agreements Between Competitors

Any agreement between competitors will need to be assessed in relation to the prohibition on anti-competitive agreements. Competitors are defined as companies that operate at the same level of production or distribution in the market. This includes potential as well as actual competitors. However, just because an agreement is between competitors does not mean that it will contravene competition law. Indeed, competition regulators recognise that certain agreements between competitors are in fact beneficial and pro-competitive. Therefore, any agreements