The Competition and Markets Authority published final guidance on Tuesday on how the Chapter I prohibition in the Competition Act 1998 applies to technology transfer agreements, with an accompanying overview for businesses.
The guidance describes the application of the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Order 2026, to help businesses assess whether agreements fall within its scope or otherwise comply with competition law.
The CMA defines a technology transfer agreement as one in which a party authorises another to use industrial property rights, such as patents, design rights, software copyrights and know-how, to produce goods or services.
The overview is aimed at businesses seeking an introduction to the rules and the main points to consider, and the CMA said it should be read alongside the full guidance.
The Order came into force on 1 May. It replaced the assimilated Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (Assimilated TTBER), which expired at the end of 30 April, according to the statutory instrument.
The Secretary of State gave effect to the CMA’s recommendation with some minor modifications, having informed the CMA of them under section 8(2) of the 1998 Act.
Under the Order, agreements between competing undertakings must meet a condition on market share, and the Order sets a 30% ceiling for each party in the relevant market for contract products. Breach of the market share conditions in article 5 or the hardcore restrictions in article 7 cancels the block exemption for the agreement concerned.
Where an agreement met the article 5 condition when it was entered into but later ceases to, cancellation takes effect only from the end of three consecutive calendar years following the year of the first breach (article 9(2)).
The CMA can also cancel the exemption by written notice where it considers an agreement is not exempt under section 9 of the Act (article 11), and a party claiming the exemption must provide information the CMA requests (article 10).
The Order also has a transitional provision for pre-existing agreements that runs to the end of 30 April 2027.
The guidance follows a review that began in July 2024. The CMA ran a call for inputs from 26 July to 6 September 2024 and received 11 responses.
On 14 March 2025 it consulted on a proposed recommendation, with the consultation closing on 11 April 2025.
The proposal was for an order of 12 years’ duration covering the categories of agreement already exempted. Its variations included removing utility models from the definition of technology rights, adding copyright in a database and database rights, and adding definitions of active and passive sales.
It also proposed replacing market share thresholds for technology markets with a condition that there be at least three independently controlled substitutable technologies in addition to those held by the parties.
The CMA published its final recommendation on 30 September 2025, that the Secretary of State make a new UK block exemption order to replace the Assimilated TTBER when it expired (paragraph 2.9). It said the EU’s own block exemption regulation also expires on 30 April.
The CMA consulted on draft guidance from 30 April to 11 June.
The CMA advises the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on making new block exemptions and on varying or revoking assimilated block exemption regulations.