Commission updates EU competition rules for technology licensing agreements

The European Commission has today adopted the revised Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation ('TTBER') and Guidelines on the application of Article 101 of the Treaty to technology transfer agreements ('Guidelines'), following a thorough review of the rules that have been in place since 2014.

Technology transfer agreements are agreements by which a firm that owns technology rights (such as patents, design rights or software copyright) authorises another firm - usually by granting a licence - to use the rights to produce goods or services.Because these agreements facilitate the dissemination of technology and incentivise research and development, they are often pro-competitive, but some (restrictions in these) agreements can also have negative effects on competition.

The TTBER exempts technology transfer agreements from the prohibition of anti-competitive agreements in Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ('TFEU'), subject to certain conditions. The Guidelines help businesses to interpret the TTBER and provide guidance on the assessment of technology transfer and other technology-related agreements that fall outside the block exemption.

The revised TTBER and Guidelines provide businesses with up-to-date rules and guidance to help them assess the compliance of their technology licensing and related agreements with EU competition rules. The changes to the rules address two key features of the digital economy: the strategicimportance of data and the increased use of standard-essential technologies to enable interoperability between products.

The new rules will enter into force on 1 May 2026.

Main changes

The main changes to the rules concern new market practices:

• Data licensing agreements. Given the strategic importance of data, the revised Guidelines include a new section on the assessment of data licensing for production purposes, under Article 101 TFEU. This section, explains, for instance, that the licensing of databases protected by copyright or the EU database right is generally pro-competitive and that the Commission will assess this type of data licensing by applying the same principles as for technology transfer agreements.
• Licensing negotiation groups (LNGs). These are arrangements between technology implementers to negotiate jointly the terms of the technology licences that they wish to obtain from technology owners. For example, product manufacturers may need access to patents that form part of a technology standard. The Guidelines now contain a section that explains the possible pro- and anti-competitive effects of LNGs, the distinction between genuine LNGs and buyer cartels, and the relevant factors for assessing whether an LNG is likely to restrict competition. It also highlights measures that LNGs can take to reduce the risk of infringing Article 101 TFEU.

Further changes have been made to clarify and simplify the application of the rules.

In particular, the application of the TTBER's market share thresholds has been simplified for situations where licensing takes place before a technology has been commercialised. In addition, certain conditions of the safe harbour for technology pools, found in the Guidelines, have been further specified to ensure that the benefit of the safe harbour is reserved for pools that comply with Article 101 TFEU. Technology pools are arrangements under which multiple technology owners contribute their technology rights to a package, which is licensed out to the contributors and to third parties. Pools often support technology standards, such as telecommunications standards.

More detailed information on the changes can be found in an explanatory note accompanying the revised rules.

Background

Article 101(1) TFEU prohibits agreements between companies that restrict competition. However, under Article 101(3) TFEU, such agreements are compatible with the single market, provided they contribute to improving the production or distribution of goods or to promoting technical or economic progress, while allowing consumers a fair share of the resulting benefits and without eliminating competition.

In November 2024, the Commission published a Staff Working Document setting out the results of its evaluation of the 2014 TTBER and the accompanying Guidelines. The evaluation confirmed that these instruments remain useful and relevant, but it also highlighted areas for possible improvement in terms of legal certainty and the need to reflect market developments. In January 2025, the Commission launched an impact assessment to gather evidence on options for revising the rules. This included an open public consultation, a stakeholder workshop, meetings with interested parties and national competition authorities, and an expert study on data licensing.

In September 2025, the Commission published drafts of the revised TTBER and Guidelines for consultation. The consultation feedback was taken into account in the new TTBER and Guidelines.

The results of the various consultation activities are summarised in the Impact Assessment Report.

For More Information

More information is available on the webpage for this review on the Commission's competition website, including summaries of the various consultation activities, stakeholder feedback, studies commissioned from external experts, the Evaluation report and the Impact Assessment report.