Horizontal Agreements the New UK and EU Regimes

Sarwenaz Kiani, a partner in the Vorys Berlin office and a member of the Vorys eControl group, authored an article for the December 2023 issue of PLC Magazine titled “Horizontal Agreements the New UK and EU Regimes.”  The article outlines the new UK and revised EU legal frameworks for horizontal agreements, focusing on the block exemption for research and development agreements.

The article states:

“The European Commission (the Commission) has recently revised and updated its legal framework on horizontal agreements.  In parallel, the UK government issued legislation to create a new post-Brexit legal framework on horizontal agreements, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has recently published guidance on the application of the new UK regime. Both regimes provide for block exemptions that apply to certain categories of research and development (R&D) and specialization agreements, creating a “safe harbour” from the general prohibition against anti- competitive agreements. The new and revised regimes are intended to increase clarity for companies in assessing whether their agreements benefit from the safe harbor and, for agreements that fall outside of the safe harbour, whether they comply with competition law.”

To access a PDF of the entire article, which first appeared in the December 2023 issue of PLC Magazine, click here.  To learn more about PLC Magazine, click here.