Horizontal agreements between companies: Revision of EU competition rules

ClientEarth and Simon Holmes’ contribution to the Commission’s consultation

The European Commission acknowledged that more can be done to align competition policy with the European Green Deal objectives. One way to explore would be facilitating cooperation agreements between competitor companies that aim at pursuing sustainability objectives, such as placing more sustainable products on the market, when they would not be incentivise to do so on their own. ClientEarth and Simon Holmes believe the Commission should indeed clarify its rules on horizontal agreements to give guidance to companies that aim at pursuing genuine sustainability objectives and go further and faster than the law does, when there are fair consumer benefits.