Commission launches public consultation on the revision of EU competition rules on technology transfer agreements

The European Commission has launched a call for evidence and a public consultation to seek feedback on possible revisions of the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (‘TTBER') and the accompanying Guidelines.

The TTBER exempts certain categories of technology transfer agreements from the prohibition of anticompetitive agreements in Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Its objective is to provide companies with clear and simple rules for pro-competitive technology licensing agreements, thereby facilitating technology dissemination, incentivising initial R&D, and promoting innovation.

This initiative forms part of the impact assessment phase, which follows the evaluation concluded in November 2024. The aim of the evaluation was to gather evidence on the functioning of the TTBER and the Guidelines, for the Commission to determine whether it should let the rules expire, prolong their duration or revise them in view of their expiry on 30 April 2026.

All interested parties can submit their views in any official EU language on the Commission's Have your Say Portal until 25 April 2025. The Commission will then publish a summary of the feedback received. Input from stakeholders will help the Commission draft the revised rules, with the aim to publish them for consultation in the third quarter of 2025.

The impact assessment phase is expected to last until the first quarter of 2026. More information can be found here.

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