The regulation on the application of competition law § 10 third paragraph on groups of vertical agreements and concerted appearance Date FOR-2010-06-21-898 Ministry industry and Fisheries Ministry published in the 2010 booklet 8 effective date 31.05.2010-31.05.2022 last modified the Change applies to Norway Pursuant LAW-2004-03-05-12-section 10, FOR-2004-04-16-631 Announced 24.06.2010 23:00. 14.50 short title regulations on groups of vertical agreements the legal authority: set by the Government, the Administration and Church Affairs 21. June 2010 under the legal authority of the Act 5. March 2004 No. 12 about the competition between undertakings and the control of concentrations (competition law) § 10 fourth paragraph, cf.. the delegation decision 16. April 2004 No. 631. § 1. Definitions 1. Of this regulation is meant by: a) the vertical agreement agreement or practices entered into between two or more undertakings which, according to the agreement or the consolidated performance, athlete business within the various links in the production or distribution chain, and which applies to the terms of the parties ' purchase, sale or resale of certain goods or services, b) vertical limit a competition restriction in a vertical agreement is covered by the scope of competition law § 10 the first paragraph , c) competing undertakings an actual or potential competitor, in fact, an undertaking which competitor athlete business on the same relevant market, potential competitor an undertaking which in the absence of the vertical agreement on a realistic basis, and not just as a theoretical possibility by a small but permanent increase in the relative prices, in a short time will be able to make the necessary additional investments or assume other necessary switching costs to enter on the relevant market , d) competition clause any direct or indirect obligation which prevents the buyer in to produce, purchase, sell or resell goods or services which compete with the goods or services covered by the agreement, or any direct or indirect obligation for buyer to purchase from the supplier or from another undertaking designated by the supplier more than 80% of the buyer's total purchases of the goods or services covered by the agreement as well as considers goods or services on the relevant market , calculated on the basis of the value of, or, if it is standard practice in the industry, the amount of calls made purchases the previous calendar year, e) selectively distribution system a distribution system where the supplier undertakes to sell the goods or services covered by the agreement, either directly or indirectly, only to distributors selected on the basis of specific criteria and where these distributors undertake not to sell such goods or services to dealers not authorized within the area in which the vendor has booked to drive this system, f) intellectual property rights industrial property rights, know-how, copyright and opphavsrettsbeslektede rights, g) know-how a whole of non-patented practical knowledge of the provider's experience and testing services, and which is secret, substantial and identified; with secret means in this context that knowhowen are not widely known or available; with substantial means that the knowhowen are significant and useful for the buyer with regard to the use, sale or resale of the goods or services covered by the agreement; with identified means that knowhowen is described in a sufficiently comprehensive way to make it possible to verify that it meets the secrets-and betydelighetskriteriet, h) buy, among other things, a company which, according to an agreement covered by the competition law § 10 the first paragraph is selling goods and services on behalf of another undertaking, in) the buyer's customer an undertaking which is not party to the agreement and that they buy the goods or services covered by the agreement from a buyer that is party to the agreement.

2. in these regulations to the terms enterprise, vendor and buys include their respective associated companies.
With associated companies refers to a) enterprises in which a Contracting Party directly or indirectly in) has the authority to exercise more than half the voting rights, or ii) has the authority to appoint more than half of the members of the entity's control authority, Board or the bodies that legally represents the entity, or iii) have the right to lead the company's business, b) companies that faced with a Contracting Party directly or indirectly has the rights or the powers listed in letter a , c) enterprises in which an undertaking referred to in the letter b directly or indirectly has the rights or the powers listed in letter a, d) undertakings in which a Contracting Party together with one or more of the companies mentioned in the letter a, b or c, or enterprises in which two or more of the latter undertakings jointly have the rights or the powers listed in letter a , e) enterprises in which the rights or the powers listed in letter a jointly held by the Contracting Parties or in) their respective associated companies mentioned in the letter a to d, or ii) one or more of the Contracting Parties or one or more of their associated companies mentioned in the letter a to d and one or more third parties.

§ 2. Exception 1. Competition law § 10 the first paragraph will not apply to vertical agreements.
This exception applies to the extent that the agreements contain vertical restrictions.

2. The exemption provided for in the first paragraph apply to vertical agreements entered into between an Association of undertakings and its members, or between such an association and its suppliers, only if all the members are retailers of goods and if no one of the negotiations, and individual members, together with its associated companies, have a combined annual turnover of over 50 million euros. Vertical agreements entered into by such associations shall be covered by this regulation, without prejudice to the application of competition law § 10 on horizontal agreements concluded between the members of the Association, or on the decisions that the Union has hit.

3. The exception provided for in the first paragraph apply to vertical agreements containing provisions on the transfer of intellectual property rights to the buyer or its use of these, provided that those provisions do not constitute such avtalers hovedgjenstand and is directly related to the buyer's or its customers ' use, sale or resale of goods or services. The exception applies under the condition that the provisions, when it comes to the goods or services covered by the agreement, do not include the competition restrictions which have the same purpose as vertical restraints which are not exempted by this regulation.

4. The exemption provided for in the first paragraph shall not apply to vertical agreements entered into between competing undertakings. It will, however, apply when competing undertakings enter into a single-sided vertical agreement and a) the vendor is a manufacturer and distributor of goods, while the buyer is a retailer and not a competing undertaking in the production link, or b) provider is service provider in several revenue joints while the buyer delivers his goods or services in the retail link, and is not a competing undertaking within the revenue part where the person purchasing the services covered by the agreement.

5. This Regulation shall not apply to vertical agreements if the article falls under the scope of any other regulations on group exemption, unless otherwise is provided for in such regulations.

§ 3. Market share limit 1. The exception set out in section 2 applies on the condition that the supplier's market share does not exceed 30% of the relevant market in which this sell the goods or services covered by the agreement, and the buyer's market share does not exceed 30% of the relevant market in which this purchase the goods or services covered by the agreement.

2. with regard to the application of the first paragraph, if a business enterprise within the framework of an agreement with several parties buying the goods or services covered by the agreement of an undertaking which is party to the agreement and sell these goods or services covered by the agreement to another undertaking which is party to the agreement, the market share of the first entity does not exceed the market share limit laid down in the said paragraph , both as a buyer and as a vendor, for that the exception set out in section 2 should apply.

§ 4. Restrictions that remove the benefit of the block exemption-especially severe restrictions the exception set out in section 2 shall not apply to vertical agreements which, directly or indirectly, alone or in combination with other factors under the control of the parties, have as purpose a) to restrict the buyer's access to determine its sale price, without touching the vendor's ability to fix the highest sales prices or provide suggested retail sales prices, provided that they are not as a result of pressure or incentive from any of the parties gets the character of fixed rates or minimum sales prices , b) to limit the area or the customer group in which a buyer who is party to the agreement, without prejudice to a constraint that applies to the buyer's place of establishment, can sell the goods or services covered by the agreement, except in) a limitation of the active sales to one area or to one customer group that the vendor has reserved for himself or have assigned a different buyer , if such a limitation does not restrict the sale of the buyer's customers, ii) a restriction of the buyer's sales to end users, if the buyer exercising business on the wholesale level, iii) a limitation of the sales for the members of a selective distribution system to dealers not authorized within the area in which the vendor has booked to drive this system, and iv)

a restriction of the buyer's ability to sell components, supplied for the purposes of incorporation, to customers who will be able to use them for the production of the same type of goods as those vendor produces, c) to limit the active or passive sales to end users for the members of a selective distribution system that carries on business at the retail level, without prejudice to the access to prohibit a member of the system to exercise business from a non-approved place of establishment , d) to limit cross-deliveries between dealers within a selective distribution system, including between distributors as a performer focuses on the various revenue joints, e) to restrict, by agreement between a supplier of components and a buyer who incorporates those components, the vendor's access to sell the components as spare parts to end users or to repairers or other service providers that are not designated by the buyer to repair or maintain its items.

§ 5. Exempt limitations 1. The exception set out in section 2 shall not apply in the following obligations in vertical agreements: a) any direct or indirect competition clause with unlimited or over the five-year duration, b) any direct or indirect obligation as after termination of this agreement prevents the buyer in to produce, purchase, sell or resell goods or services, c) any direct or indirect obligation for the members of a selective distribution system not to sell specific competing suppliers ' brands.

For the purposes of the first paragraph letter a to a competition clause that tacitly be renewed beyond a period of five years is considered entered into for an indefinite period.

2. As exceptions from the first paragraph of the letter a will get the time limit of five years does not apply if the goods or services covered by the agreement, are sold by the buyer from premises and the reason that the vendor owns or rents of the third parties that have no relation to the buyer, provided that the competition does not exceed the duration klausulens the time that the buyer using the premises and the reason.

3. As exceptions from the first paragraph, LITRA b get the exception set out in section 2 apply to any direct or indirect obligation as the buyer after the expiration of this agreement prevents in produce, buy, sell or resell goods or services if the following conditions are met: a) the obligation applies to goods or services which compete with the goods or services covered by the agreement, b) the liability is limited to the premises and the reason that the buyer has been present from the during the agreement period , c) commitment is absolutely necessary to protect the know-how that the vendor has transferred to the buyer, d) forpliktelsens duration is limited to a period of one year after the expiration of this agreement.

First paragraph, LITRA b does not affect the ability to impose a limitation of unlimited duration on the use and the dissemination of know-how that is not widely known.

section 6. The application of market share limit by application of market share limits set out in section 3, the following rules will apply: a) the vendor's market share should be calculated on the basis of information about the sales value on the market, and the buyer's market share should be calculated on the basis of the information on purchase value on the market. If the information about the value or purchase value on the market are not available, the appropriate enterprises ' market share is calculated based on other reliable market information, including traded and purchased volumes.

b) market shares will be calculated on the basis of information for the previous calendar year.

c) vendor's market share shall include any goods or services that are supplied vertically integrated retailers for the purpose of sale.

d) if the market share is initially not more than 30% but subsequently rises above this level without exceeding 35%, the exemption provided for in § 2 still apply in a period of two consecutive calendar years after the year in which the market share threshold of 30% was first exceeded.

e) if the market share is initially not more than 30% but subsequently rises to over 35%, the exemption provided for in § 2 still apply in one calendar year after the year in which the level of 35% was first exceeded.

f) application of the letter d and e may not be combined so that a period of two calendar years is exceeded.

g) the market share held by the enterprises mentioned in section 1annet paragraph letter e, is to be distributed equally among the companies that have the rights or the powers listed in section 1 the second paragraph letter a.

section 7. The application of the threshold for turnover 1. By the calculation of the overall annual sales according to § 2 the second paragraph to the turnover achieved by the relevant party to the vertical agreement during the previous fiscal year and the turnover achieved by the company's associated companies when it comes to all the goods and services, without taxes and fees, are added together. In that regard to transactions between the party of the vertical agreement and its associated companies, or between the associated enterprises, excluded.

2. The exemption provided for in § 2 still gets the application if the threshold value for the overall year sales in a period of two consecutive financial years not be exceeded by more than 10%.

section 8. Transition period the ban set out in the Competition Act § 10 the first paragraph shall not apply in the time period from 1. June 2010 to 31. May 2011 with respect to agreements that have already come into force 31. in May 2010, and which do not meet the criteria set out in the exception this regulation, but that fulfilled the terms of the exception laid down in regulation 17. August 2004 No. 1196. § 9. Entry into force and duration this regulation takes effect immediately and applies to 31. may 2022.