notice on agreements of minor importance

agreement of minor importance

agreement of minor importance

minor offence against property

European Agreement on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance

Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures [ AILP ]

European Agreement of 19 January 1996 on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance [ AGN ]

The European Commission invites comments on a proposal to revise its guidance notice for assessing when minor agreements between companies are not caught by the general prohibition of anticompetitive agreements under EU competition law.

(17) Guidance on the issue of appreciability can be found in Commission notice on agreements of minor importance which do not appreciably restrict competition under Article 81(1) of the Treaty (OJ C 368, 22.12.2001, p. 13).

Firstly, in its notice on agreements of minor importance which do not appreciably restrict competition in the meaning of Article 81(1) of the Treaty (the de minimis rule)(37) the Commission has stated that agreements between small and medium-sized undertakings (SMEs) as defined in the Annex to Commission Recommendation 96/280/EC(38) are normally not capable of affecting trade between Member States.

What is considered to be a ‘low combined market share’ depends on the type of agreement in question and can be inferred from the ‘safe harbour’ thresholds set out in various chapters of these guidelines and, more generally, from the Commission Notice on agreements of minor importance which do not appreciably restrict competition under Article 81(1) of the Treaty establishing the European Community (de minimis) (32) (‘the De Minimis Notice’). If one of just two parties has only an insignificant market share and if it does not possess important resources, even a high combined market share normally cannot be seen as ind ...[+++]icating a likely restrictive effect on competition in the market (33).