Vertical restrictions : VBER, everything changed ? (Demain la concurrence, 9 juin 2021)

Some first thoughts on the proposed revision of the EU vertical rules Alexis Walckiers Director, E.CA Economics, Brussels I. Introduction 1. The European Commission (“the Commission”) published its draft revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (“the Regulation”) [1] and its draft revised accompanying Guidelines (“the Guidelines”—together “the Rules”) [2] on 9 July 2021. The publication of these draft documents is part of a process started in 2018 and expected to be concluded by the end of May 2022, by which the current Regulation and Guidelines adopted in 2010 will be replaced. This paper follows a presentation at a webinar organised by Concurrences on 9 June 2021, which was entitled “Vertical Restrictions : VBER, Everything Changed ?” (“the Concurrences conference”). The other