The European Commission’s new Block Exemption on vertical restraints has attracted widespread publicity. Effective from 1 June 2000, it heralds a new approach towards distribution and supply agreements, based on self-assessment rather than notification. Its principal objective is to introduce a more "economic" approach, whereby agreements are analysed in terms of their effect on the market, regardless of their form.
In the future, the European Commission intends to control vertical relationships between undertakings at different levels of the production and distribution chain only in circumstances where the supplier, or in some cases the buyer, exercises a degree of market power, i.e. its market share exceeds 30% of the relevant market. The presumption is that where the supplier’s share of the relevant market does not exceed 30% vertical agreements (which do not contain "hardcore" restrictions) generally lead to an improvement in production and distribution and allow consumers a
