The EU Commission invites comments on its draft revised rules on horizontal cooperation agreements

On 1 March 2022 the EU Commission published, for consultation, its draft revised rules on horizontal cooperation agreements. The rules consist of two horizontal block exemption Regulations (covering Research & Development agreements and Specialisation agreements) and Guidelines on the application of Article 101 TFEU to horizontal cooperation agreements (Horizontal Guidelines). As had been anticipated, the draft Horizontal Guidelines now include a new chapter on the assessment of sustainability agreements, setting out a framework of analysis for agreements between competitors that pursue sustainability objectives. For some time now there have been calls for a uniform EU-wide approach to sustainability agreements as national competition authorities, in particular the Dutch competition