Council Regulation (EC) No 1216/1999 of 10 June 1999 amending Regulation No 17: first Regulation implementing Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty
Date: 1999-06-10
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: designs and models, inter-company agreement, patent law, trade agreement, trade-mark law

15. 6. 1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 148/5

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1216/1999

of 10 June 1999

amending Regulation No 17: first Regulation implementing Articles 81 and 82 of
the Treaty (*)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 83 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia-
ment (2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (3),

(1) Whereas Article 4(2) of Regulation No 17 (4)
dispenses a number of agreements, decisions and
concerted practices from the requirement of noti-
fication prior to exemption under Article 4(1);

(2) Whereas this dispensation relates in particular to
agreements, decisions
and concerted practices
where the only parties thereto are undertakings
from one Member State and the agreements, deci-
sions or practices do not relate either to imports or
exports between Member States, or where not more
than two undertakings are party thereto and the
agreements only restrict the freedom of one party
to the contract in determining the prices or condi-
tions of business on which the goods he has
obtained from the other party to the contract may
be resold; whereas this dispensation does not cover
mot agreements caught by Articles 81(1) of the
Treaty which are entered into by two or more
undertakings, each operating, for the purposes of
the agreement, at a different level of the production
or distribution chain, and which relate to the
conditions under which the parties may purchase,
sell or resell certain goods or services (‘vertical
agreements');

(3) Whereas on 22 January 1997 the Commission
published a Green Paper on Vertical Restraints in
EC Competition Policy which generated a wide-
ranging public debate on the application of Article
81(1) and (3) of the Treaty to vertical agreements;

(*) Editorial Note: The title of Regulation No 17 has been adju-
sted to take account of the renumbering of the Articles of the
Treaty establishing the European Community in accordance
with Article 12 of the Treaty of Amsterdam; the original refe-
rence was to Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty.

(1) OJ C 365, 26.11.1998, p. 30.
(2) Opinion delivered on 15 April 1999 (not yet published in the

Official Journal).
(3) OJ C 116, 28.4.1999.
(4) OJ 13, 21.2.1962, p. 204/62. Regulation as last amended by

the 1994 Act of Accession.

whereas the response from Member States,
the
the Economic and Social
European Parliament,
Committee, the Committee of the Regions and
interested parties has been generally in favour of
reform of Community competition policy in this
area;

(4) Whereas any such reform must meet

the two
requirements of ensuring effective protection of
competition and providing adequate legal certainty
for firms; whereas, in order to achieve these objec-
tives, the Commission has been empowered by the
Council to declare, by regulation and in accordance
with Article 81(3) of the Treaty, that Article 81(1) is
not applicable to categories of vertical agreements;

(5) Whereas

reform of

the regulatory framework
applicable to vertical agreements must in addition
take account of the need to simplify administrative
supervision which would result in a reduction of
the number of notifications of vertical agreements;
whereas thee should be a reduction of the incentive
to notify vertical agreements which are in compli-
ance with the policy of the Commission and the
case-law of the Court of Justice and the Court of
first instance; whereas, to achieve that objective, the
Commission should be empowered to grant indi-
vidual exemption for vertical agreements caught by
Article 81(1) of the Treaty from the date on which
they were entered into;

(6) Whereas the requirement of notification prior to
exemption imposes on firms which are party to
vertical agreements an unnecessary administrative
burden;

(7) Whereas the agreements referred to in Article 4(2)
of Regulation No 17 are dispensed from the
requirement of notification prior to exemption;
whereas the purpose of
this dispensation is to
reduce the number of notifications, which enables
the Commission to concentrate its efforts on super-
vising those restrictive agreements which are the
most damaging to competition; whereas, therefore,
this amendment does not entail any relaxation in
the supervision which the Commission has a duty
to exercise under Article 81(1);

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Official Journal of the European Communities

15. 6. 1999

(8) Whereas the scope of Article 4(2) of Regulation No
17 should therefore be extended, and all vertical
agreements should be dispensed from the require-
ment of notification prior to exemption,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Point 2 of Article 4(2) of Regulation No 17 shall be
replaced by the following:

‘2.

(a) the agreements or concerted practices are entered
into by two or more undertakings, each operating,
for the purposes of the agreement, at a different
level of the production or distribution chain, and
relate to the conditions under which the parties

may purchase,
services;

sell or

resell certain goods or

(b) not more than two undertakings are party thereto,
and the agreements only impose restrictions on
the exercise of the rights of the assignee or user of
industrial property rights,
in particular patents,
utility models, designs or trade marks, or of the
person entitled under a contract to the assignment,
or grant, of the right to use a method of manufac-
ture or knowledge relating to the use and to the
application of industrial processes'.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
following its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
States.

Done at Luxembourg, 10 June 1999.

For the Council

The President

K.-H. FUNKE