Legal provisions of COM(1998)546-1 - Amendment of Regulation No 19/65/EEC on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty to certain categories of agreements and concerted practices

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dossier COM(1998)546-1 - Amendment of Regulation No 19/65/EEC on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty to certain categories of agreements ...
document COM(1998)546 EN
date June 10, 1999


Contents

Article 1

Regulation No 19/65/EEC is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 1 shall be amended as follows:

(a) paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following: "1. Without prejudice to the application of Regulation No 17 and in accordance with Article 81(3) of the Treaty the Commission may by regulation declare that Article 81(1) shall not apply to:

(a) categories of agreements 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,

(b) categories of agreements to which only two undertakings are party and which include restrictions imposed in relation to the acquisition or use of industrial property rights, in particular of patents, utility models, designs or trade marks, or to the rights arising out of contracts for assignment of, or the right to use, a method of manufacture or knowledge relating to the use or to the application of indutrial processes";

(b) in paragraph 2(b), the words 'the clauses which must be contained in the agreements, or' shall be deleted;

(c) paragraph 3 shall be replace by the following: '3. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall apply by analogy to categories of concerted practices'.

2. The following Article shall be inserted: "Article 1a

A regulation pursuant to Article 1 may stipulate the conditions which may lead to the exclusion from its application of certain parallel networks of similar agreements or concerted practices operating on particular market; when these circumstances are fulfilled the Commission may establish this by means of regulation and fix a period at the expiry of which the Regulation pursuant to Article 1 would no longer be applicable in respect of the relevant agreements or concerted practices on that market; such period must not be shorter than six months".

3. Article 6(1) shall be replaced by the following: "1. The Commission shall consult the Advisory Committee on Restrictive Practices and Monopolies:

(a) with regard to a regulation pursuant to Article 1 before publishing a draft regulation and before adopting a regulation;

(b) with regard to a regulation pursuant to Article 1a before publishing a draft regulation if requested by a Member State, and before adopting a regulation".

4. In Article 7 the existing paragraph shall become paragraph 1 and the following paragraph shall be added: '2. When in any particular case agreements or concerted practices to which a regulation adopted pursuant to Article 1 applies have certain effects which are incompatible with the conditions laid down in Article 81(3) of the Treaty in the territory of a Member State, or in part thereof, which has all the characteristics of a distinct market, the competent authority in that Member State may on its own initiative or at the request of the Commission or of natural or legal persons claiming a legitimate interest withdraw the benefit of application of that regulation'.

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.