Press Release: Commission finalises new competition rules for distribution

On 24.5.00, the European Commission put into place the last building block of its new competition rules concerning supply and distribution agreements. It approved a set of Guidelines on 'Vertical Restraints' which complement the new Block Exemption Regulation decided in December 1999. Guidelines and Block Exemption Regulation together form the basis for a more economic and less regulatory competition policy towards 'vertical agreements'. These are agreements for the sale or purchase of goods or services between companies operating at different levels of the production or distribution chain. The reform mainly concerns industrial supply agreements, exclusive and selective distribution agreements, franchising agreements and single branding agreements in, for instance, the beer and petrol sectors. Such agreements are vital to the functioning of the economy. This reform of a key area of competition policy is part of the wider review undertaken by the Commission to modernise its rules on competition.