The European Commission launched a public consultation on its proposal for revised competition regime for technology transfer agreements. The Commission highlights that the proposal aims to update the current regime in order to strengthen incentives for research and innovation, facilitate the diffusion of intellectual property and stimulate competition. Replies to the consultations can be submitted until 17 May 2013.

The European Commission is proposing some changes to the current competition regime for technology transfer agreements, in light of responses to a first public consultation in December 2011. Therefore, the Commission is now consulting on the changes, in particular, certain types of agreements or clauses such as the possibility to terminate an agreement if a licensee challenges the validity of the intellectual property right (IPR) or all sorts of exclusive grant-backs that oblige to license back to the licensor improvements made by the licensee would not be automatically exempted but would have to be assessed on a case-by-case basis because they might stifle competition or innovation. The Commission also proposes to update the Guidelines, particularly to include new provisions on "patent pools", i.e. multilateral patent licensing agreements. Recently, the Commission also launched a public consultation on state aid rules for the maritime sector.

In light of stakeholders' submissions, the Commission will adopt a new regime before April 2014. The current regime consists of two instruments. First, a block exemption regulation (TTBER) creates a so-called "safe harbour" for certain unproblematic agreements which are deemed to be compatible with EU rules. Second, Commission Guidelines provide guidance on the assessment of technology transfer agreements under EU competition rules. Based on these Guidelines, companies can assess whether the agreements they conclude are anticompetitive and could infringe Article 101 TFEU.

With regard to the first consultation results, a majority of stakeholders considered that the present system is largely satisfactory, both the TTBER and the Guidelines are regarded as useful and important tools for the industry. Many respondents also made suggestions for incremental improvements in both the TTBER and the Guidelines.