Nuevas normas para los acuerdos verticales. Algunas ideas aplicables a contratos típicos del sector de “Life Sciences”

In July 2021, the Commission published drafts of the new revised vertical block exemption Regulation and its vertical Guidelines.

The previous Regulation and Guidelines had been in force since 2010 and have been very useful tools for the self-assessment of vertical
agreements by companies.

However, changes in the market and new online marketing models have made it necessary to update and modernize it.

In this article we provide an overview of the block exemption system, with the objective of helping readers to analyse vertical agreements, which are very common in the life sciences sector, in an holistic manner. The block exemption system is a valid one to scrutinize agreements under competition rules, but it is not the only one.