Jurisdiction(s):
European Union

Key definition

Block exemption definition

What does Block exemption mean? A block exemption is a competition law safe harbour that automatically exempts defined categories of agreements from the general ban on anti-competitive agreements, if specified conditions are met and no hardcore restrictions (for example, price fixing or certain territorial or customer allocation) are included. It is typically applied to vertical distribution and supply, franchising, research and development, specialisation and motor vehicle distribution and servicing. United Kingdom: Block exemptions are set by Block Exemption Orders under the Competition Act 1998. Where their criteria (including market share thresholds and excluded/hardcore restrictions) are satisfied, they disapply the Chapter I prohibition in section 2...

EU competition law block exemptions and guidelines: status, expiries and consultation timelines for VBER, HBERs, MVBER, TTBER and CBER

Published by a LexisNexis EU Law expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note monitors the ongoing revision of EU Block exemption rules and related guidance, including:

the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and its Vertical Guidelines;
the Research and Developments Block Exemption Regulation (R&D Block Exemption Regulation) and the Specialisation Block Exemption Regulation, together known as the Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations (HBERs), with the accompanying Horizontal Guidelines;
the Motor Vehicles Block Exemption Regulation (MVBER);
the Liner Shipping Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER); and
the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (TTBER).

It does not address block exemption regulations for State aid. For UK legislation on block exemptions and live policy work, see Practice Note: UK block exemptions revision—tracker. For EU competition law legislation, guidance and other policy developments in train, see Practice Note: EU competition horizon scanning—2025 and beyond.

Background

Article 101(1) TFEU prohibits agreements whose object or effect is to restrict competition. However, an agreement considered restrictive under Article 101(1) may still be lawful where the conditions in Article 101(3) TFEU are satisfied. Article 101(3) can apply to individual agreements, as well as to categories of agreements through the relevant block exemption regulation. Block exemptions provide...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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