The New Legal Antitrust Frameworks for Vertical Agreements In the EU and UK

Other Speakers:  Johannes Holzwarth - European Commission, Ricardo Araujo - UK Competition and Markets Authority, Warsha Kalé - Thomson Reuters – Practical Law (Global)

The main legal framework in the European Union governing distribution and supply agreements (Vertical Block Exemption Regulation, VBER) expires at the end of May 2022. The European Commission (EC) has recently published the revised VBER together with accompanying guidelines. In parallel, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has adopted a new Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order (VABEO) and issued draft guidance. Both sets of rules will enter into force on 1 June 2022, and will result in significant changes to the current legal framework in the EU and UK.

Some of the changes offer more flexibility to suppliers/brand owners and retailers, but in some instances the changes may lead to stricter rules.

In this webinar, Thomson Reuters and Mayer Brown will moderate a discussion with Johannes Holzwarth from the EC and Ricardo Araujo from the CMA on the practical implications of the main legal changes arising from VBER and VABEO, the areas where the regimes will diverge and the points on which market players may require more guidance in future.

The webinar will among other focus on the following topics:

• Dual distribution and information exchange – what are the absolute no-go’s and what kind of information can be exchanged between suppliers and resellers?
• Dealings with online intermediation services and hybrid platforms – are there any legal safe harbours left?
• Selective distribution and online restrictions – do suppliers have more flexibility now?
• Exclusive distribution – is exclusive the new selective?

Please join us for what promises to be a fascinating discussion.

To secure your complimentary place, please click on the register button above.