ABSTRACT
Vertical agreements are agreements made between undertakings operating at different levels of the same market. A typical example is an agreement between the producer of a product and a distributor. This chapter is principally concerned with vertical restraints. The contractual restrictions employed in vertical agreements are used, inter alia, to facilitate the distribution of goods and services. This chapter will focus on the impact of the competition rules on distribution agreements, in particular on exclusive and selective distribution agreements. We will also look more briefly at exclusive purchasing agreements, referred to recently by the Commission as ‘single-branding’ agreements. However, it should be noted that there are a variety of types of vertical agreement, including franchising, and often a particular vertical agreement may contain a complex mix of different vertical restraints.
