#2026/369The Competition Act 1998 (Technology Transfer Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2026
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
This Order creates a block exemption under the Competition Act 1998 for technology transfer agreements, allowing certain patent, know-how and software copyright licensing agreements to be exempt from the Chapter I prohibition on anti-competitive agreements. The exemption applies provided the parties' market shares do not exceed specified thresholds and the agreement does not contain hardcore restrictions such as price-fixing or output limitations. It replaces and updates the previous assimilated TTBER that had a technical defect. The Order also makes a minor amendment to the parallel Research and Development Block Exemption Order 2022.
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Key Changes
- Introduces new Technology Transfer Block Exemption effective from 1 May 2026
- Exemption applies where parties' combined market share ≤ 20% for competitors or individual share ≤ 30% for non-competitors
- Lists specific hardcore restrictions that remove the entire exemption (Article 7)
+ 3 more changes with Pro
Obligations
What this law requires
Parties to technology transfer agreements must ensure combined market share does not exceed specified thresholds to qualify for block exemption
Technology transfer agreements must not contain hardcore restrictions including price-fixing or output limitations
Parties must provide information to the Competition and Markets Authority upon request regarding their technology transfer agreements
Failure to comply with information provision obligations may result in loss of block exemption protection
Block exemption may be cancelled in individual cases by the Competition and Markets Authority if conditions are breached