ABSTRACT
On December 22 1999, following three years of deliberation, the European Commission adopted a new block exemption regulation on the application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty to categories of vertical agreements and concerted practices.1 Together with its forthcoming guidelines, the regulation presents the first of a range of ‘new’ competition rules which are intended to eventually turn the current notification and authorization process into a largely decentralized system of directly applicable exceptions and intensified ex post control.2 By delegating regulatory tasks to member state authorities and undertakings themselves, the Commission hopes to free resources for the proactive assessment of key cases and new policy areas. Still, as the guardian of the Treaties, it retains the sole right to propose legislative texts and aims to ensure the uniform application of EU Competition Law through procedural controls and the insistence on economic, in the sense of ‘effectbased’, substantive rules. But certainly for vertical restraints, outlining the latter is far from trivial.
