Doing Business in the Netherlands 2012 - American Chamber of ...

Doing Business in the Netherlands 2012
10 Competition Rules and Free Movement of
Goods
10.1 Competition Rules
The EC competition rules provided in Articles 101 and 102 of the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Treaty) have a
direct effect in the Netherlands. Individuals can therefore invoke
these articles before the Dutch courts and the courts are obliged to
apply them.
Article 101(1) of the Treaty prohibits agreements and concerted
practices between undertakings (natural or legal persons) the object or
effect of which is to prevent, restrict, or distort competition in the
European Union (EU) and which may affect trade between EU
Member States.
The prohibition does not apply if the restrictive agreements or
practices meet the conditions of Article 101(3) of the Treaty. The
conditions are met if the agreement or practice improves the
production or distribution of goods or services, or promotes technical
or economic progress, while allowing consumers a fair share of the
resulting benefit, provided that the agreement neither imposes
restrictions that are not indispensable to the attainment of these goals
nor affords the parties the opportunity to eliminate competition in
respect of a substantial part of the products or service in question.
Whether a certain agreement or practice satisfies these conditions for
exemption has to be determined by means of self-assessment. To
facilitate this self-assessment, the Commission provides guidance
through notices and procedural regulations.
In addition, the Commission has adopted the so-called Block
Exemption Regulations that automatically exempt certain categories
of agreements. EC Block Exemption Regulations currently exist in
relation to, inter alia, technology transfer agreements, motor vehicle
distribution, specialization agreements, research and development
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