Global Competition Law is primarly a practitioner's guide presenting the most salient aspects of the major competition laws country by country, giving an overview of their structure and most charasteristic elements.
Global Competition Law also provides insight into possible future developments in the field.

Global Competition Law

Where it can be demonstrated that agreements, practices or decisions prohibited under Section 4 have positive effects and create benefits for consumers, without imposing restrictions that are not indispensable or eliminating competition, the Director General of the Competition Board may grant an exemption at the request of an undertaking. Section 6 sets out conditions similar to those under EU law …

Exemptions

Section 4 of the Competition Act prohibits agreements, concerted practices and decisions by associations of undertakings which are harmful to competition. The wording of the Section is very similar to that of Article 101 TFEU. It consists of a general prohibition followed by an open list of practices deemed to be anticompetitive. This includes price fixing, limiting or controlling production, markets, market share or supply sources, exchanging information that restricts competition, applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties, or tied selling. Pursuant to Section 8 any agreement or decision that violates Section 4 is void unless it complies with Section 5 of the Act or it has been exempted.

  Agreements, concerted practices or decisions are not considered anticompetitive if they are of minor importance. According to Section 5(2), agreements are considered of minor importance if the combined market share of the undertakings involved does not exceed 15% in the case of a vertical agreement, 10 % in the case of a horizontal agreement or 10% in the case of an agreement which has the characteristics of both types of agreement.

The prohibition

Where it can be demonstrated that agreements, practices or decisions prohibited under Section 4 have positive effects and create benefits for consumers, without imposing restrictions that are not indispensable or eliminating competition, the Director General of the Competition Board may grant an exemption at the request of an undertaking. Section 6 sets out conditions similar to those under EU law, governing the granting of an exemption.

In order to obtain an exemption, an application must normally be submitted to the Estonian Competition Board (ECB) before entry into force of an agreement, commencement of a concerted practice or adoption of the relevant decision. An application for exemption may also be submitted within the six months after an agreement enters into force or a decision is adopted. However, such agreements or decisions or parts thereof restricting competition are considered void until the exemption is granted (see Procedure for Submission of Applications for Exemption, Regulation No 2 of 6 November 2002, RT L2 2002, 128, 1866).

Pursuant to Section 7(1), the Estonian Government may establish block exemptions by adopting a regulation on the proposal of the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications. Under the Act, block exemptions are granted for a fixed period of time and should list the scope of the subject-matter to which the block exemption applies, clauses which may not be included in agreements seeking to qualify for exemption, and the terms which must or may be included in any such agreements. Undertakings holding a dominant position are not allowed to benefit from the provisions of a block exemption, nor can block exemptions be applied to markets on which competition is virtually non-existent. Pursuant to the new law, the Estonian Government adopted several block exemption regulations, namely Regulations No 197 of 30 December 2010 “Grant of Permission to Enter into Specialization Agreements which Restrict or May Restrict Free Competition” (RT I, 04.01.2011, 11), Regulation No 9 of 13 January 2011 “Grant of Permission to Enter into Research and Development Agreements which Restrict or May Restrict Free Competition” (RT I, 19.01.2011, 3), Regulation No 60 of 27 May 2010 “Grant of Permission to Enter into Vertical Agreements which Restrict or May Restrict Free Competition” (RT I 2010, 23, 112) and Regulation No 66 of 3 June 2010 “Grant of Permission to Enter into Motor Vehicle Distribution and Servicing Agreements which Restrict or May Restrict Competition” (RT I 2010, 28, 149).

As part of an amendment to Estonian competition law adopted in February 2024 and effective as of 1 June 2024, EU block exemption regulations may now be applied directly to purely domestic cases, aligning Estonian law with European practice.

Global Competition Law

206. Exemptions

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Les notions juridiques connexes

206. Exemptions

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise