This month’s newsletter is slightly different in that it doesn’t flag a legal development which we think is of interest to you. Instead, because we are so proud, we very much wanted to let you know that Oxford University Press has just published the fourth edition of our book on Vertical Agreements in EU Competition Law. Earlier editions of the book have jokingly been dubbed as the “bible for verticals”, hence the on-point inspiration of our cartoonist.  

The term ‘vertical agreements’ covers a wide range of supply and distribution agreements (like selective, exclusive and free distribution, franchising, agency, contract manufacturing). Business practice is replete with such agreements and sooner or later any practicing lawyer is likely to be asked to advise on the admissibility of certain restrictions of competition which are frequently included in such agreements.

The book aims to assist the practicing lawyer in this regard. It combines academic research and analysis with practical insights to help practitioners navigate through the competition law regime applicable to vertical agreements. In addition to EU case law, it includes many practical examples from our practice and our contacts with the verticals team of the European Commission.

The focus of the book is on the competition law regime applicable to vertical agreements under Regulation 2022/720 (the general block exemption regulation), Regulation 461/2010 (the motor vehicles block exemption regulation), and the accompanying guidelines. It offers expanded coverage of the rules on dual distribution and those applicable to online sales and online advertising, with a new chapter on e-commerce.

The book also offers guidance on the self-assessment of vertical agreements outside the safe harbour of the block exemption regulations. Finally, it addresses more general competition law themes, which are of interest outside the context of vertical agreements, such as the convergence between EU and national competition law, the recent case law of the Court of Justice on “restrictions by object”, and the relation between “hard law” and “soft law”, so as to broaden the use of the book.

You can order a copy of the book with Oxford University Press.

Like the third edition, this book again is the centrepiece of a European family of books. It will be accompanied by national editions, each of which holds a local language version of this book as well as a chapter on the national competition and commercial law practice applicable to vertical agreements. The first national editions will be published later this year. The authors of these national editions are well-known practitioners in their jurisdiction and contributors to the Distribution Law Center (www.distributionlawcenter.com), the go-to online knowledge platform providing up-to-date information on European and national distribution law. We are immensely proud of the time and effort which they dedicate to these national editions and this unprecedented pan-European publication project.