Consultation outcome

Draft Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order

• From: Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
• Published: 21 February 2022
• Last updated: 13 May 2022 — See all updates

This consultation has concluded

Download the full outcome

Draft Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order: government response

PDF, 309 KB, 12 pages

Detail of outcome

The government response to this consultation outlines the technical drafting issues with the Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order raised by respondents and how BEIS intends to proceed.

See The Competition Act 1998 (Vertical Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2022 for the final order as made on 4 May 2022.

Feedback received

Consultation responses

ZIP, 4.37 MB

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Detail of feedback received

We received 16 responses to this consultation. Respondents were generally content that the Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order (VABEO) achieved its intended outcome, and proposed certain improvements to the technical drafting.

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Original consultation

Summary

This technical consultation seeks feedback on the drafting of The Competition Act 1998 (Vertical Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2022.

This consultation ran from
9:30am on 21 February 2022 to 11:45pm on 16 March 2022

Consultation description

This block exemption Order under section 6 of the Competition Act 1998 gives effect to the Competition and Markets Authority’s recommendation that certain specified agreements should be exempt from the prohibition in Chapter I of the Act which prohibits agreements between firms that prevent, restrict or distort competition.

The purpose of the Order is to ensure that businesses are not prevented or disincentivised from entering into agreements that the Competition and Markets Authority considers to be beneficial and not anticompetitive. The Order replaces a similar block exemption, the retained Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation (retained VABER) which was made under EU law and retained in UK law after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. The retained VABER expires on 31 May 2022.

The draft explanatory memorandum includes an explanation of the draft legislation.

We would like your views and feedback on this Order to make sure it delivers the policy correctly and effectively.

Please send your comments to competition@beis.gov.uk.

The Competition and Markets Authority will publish guidance to accompany this Order, the CMA Verticals Guidance.

Read the BEIS consultation privacy notice.

Documents

Draft: The Competition Act 1998 (Vertical Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2022

PDF, 297 KB, 9 pages

Draft Explanatory Memorandum: The Competition Act 1998 (Vertical Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2022

PDF, 306 KB, 11 pages

Published 21 February 2022
Last updated 13 May 2022 + show all updates

1. 13 May 2022

   Government response published, along with link to the final Order.

2. 21 February 2022

   First published.