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ARTICLE · 10 JANUARY 2023

New UK Block Exemption Orders Come Into Force For R&D And Specialisation Agreements

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Competition law and its enforcement contribute to ensuring that market failures are prevented or remedied by prohibiting agreements between businesses that prevent, restrict or distort competition.

United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
Ashley French
Ashley French
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On 1 January 2023, the Competition Act 1998 (Research and Development Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2022 (R&D BEO) and the Competition Act (Specialisation Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2022 (Specialisation Agreements BEO) came into force in the UK, replacing the retained EU regulations which expired on 31 December 2022.

This article summarises the policy background and key changes.

Policy background

Competition law and its enforcement contribute to ensuring that market failures are prevented or remedied by prohibiting agreements between businesses that prevent, restrict or distort competition. This can include, for example, price-fixing, sharing commercially sensitive information, or obligations to supply a product exclusively to a particular buyer. In this way, competition law protects UK businesses and consumers from illegal and anti-competitive behaviours across the economy.

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