Press Release: Competition policy: Revision of the 1997 Notice on agreements of minor importance (de minimis Notice)

On 16 May 2001 the European Commission adopted a draft Notice on agreements of minor importance which do not appreciably restrict competition under Article 81 (1) of the EC Treaty ('de minimis Notice'). Together with the adoption of the draft, the Commission invites comments from industry, consumer organisations and other interested third parties. The revision of the 'de minimis' notice is part of the Commission's review of the EC competition rules. By defining when agreements between companies are not prohibited by the Treaty, the Notice will reduce the compliance burden for companies, especially smaller companies. At the same time the Commission will be better able to avoid examining cases which have no interest from a competition policy point of view and will thus be able to concentrate on more important cases.

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/legislation/deminimis.html http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/legislation/deminimis.html

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