Antitrust: Commission seeks feedback on rules on technology transfer agreements

The European Commission has today launched a public consultation to gather evidence on the functioning of the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (‘TTBER’) and the related Guidelines.

The TTBER exempts certain categories of technology transfer agreements from the prohibition of anticompetitive agreements laid down in Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Technology transfer agreements are agreements by which one party authorises another to use certain technology rights, such as patents and software copyrights, for the production of goods or services.

The aim of the TTBER is to strengthen the incentives for research and development, facilitate the diffusion of technologies, and promote competition. The current rules are set to expire on 30 April 2026.

The public consultation follows the Call for Evidence launched in November 2022. It aims to gather evidence on how the TTBER has been applied in practice by companies and other interested parties.

The public consultation, in the form of an online questionnaire, invites interested parties to give their views on the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and added value of the TTBER and the related Guidelines. The evaluation will help the Commission decide whether to renew the current TTBER, revise it or let it expire.

All interested parties can submit their views in any official EU language on the Commission’s Have your Say Portal until 24 July 2023. The Commission will publish a summary of the replies to the public consultation. More information on the evaluation can be found here.