Insights

Businesses distributing goods and services in the EU often rely on the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) for legal certainty. The VBER and the accompanying guidelines set out the conditions under which distribution agreements are presumed to comply with EU competition law. To be covered by the VBER, the parties’ market shares may not exceed 30% and the agreement may not include so-called hardcore restrictions. Above the market share threshold, the parties will need to self- assess their agreement based on the guidelines. Over the past few years, the Commission has been working with stakeholders to assess, update and amend the existing rules to take account of market developments, including the emergence of online platforms and e-commerce (see also our Client Alert of August 24, 2021). The most important changes can be summarized as follows:

On March 24, 2022, the European Union (EU) co-legislators (the European Parliament and the Council) reached political agreement on the final provisions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA aims at ensuring fair and contestable markets in the digital sector by imposing specific regulatory obligations on so-called “gatekeepers,” i.e., major digital platforms with a powerful and entrenched position which act as important gateways for businesses to reach end users. The European Commission (EC) will act as the central enforcer of the DMA. It will have extensive investigative powers and be able to impose hefty fines as well as behavioral and structural remedies (including the breaking up of companies). As an instrument of ex ante regulation, the DMA is designed to complement (not replace) the ex post enforcement of competition law, which is often viewed as too slow to effectively rein in the market power of “Big Tech” players.

On May 6, 2015, the European Commission announced the launch of an inquiry into the e-commerce sector that will seek to identify potential antitrust concerns in European e-commerce markets.