ABSTRACT
The main Commission weapon, under Regulation 17, in the struggle to control its exemption workload was the adoption of Block Exemption Regulations. Block exemptions differed from individual exemptions in that they exempted a class of agreements automatically without formal intervention by and approval from the Commission. Even though the Commission’s notification burden has been removed by Regulation 1/2003, the role of block exemptions remains vital. The Regulations create ‘safe harbours’ for the parties to common types of agreement. The parties know that if they bring their agreement within the terms of the block exemption it will be safe from challenge under Art 81(1). Before the Commission may adopt a Block Exemption Regulation it must be given authority by Council.100 Once a block exemption is in place a large number of common business agreements can be assured validity without administrative intervention.
