COMPETITION LAW AND BUSINESS COOPERATION AGREEMENTS. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS AND SPECIALISATION AGREEMENTS

Abstract

The development of the business cooperation forms and, in particular, «the Companies Networks» show special connotations relating to the Competition Law. The closest and most settled to the «Companies Networks» law-economic configuration, which implies The development of the business cooperation forms and, in particular, «the Companies Networks» show special connotations relating to the Competition Law. The closest and most settled to the «Companies Networks» law-economic configuration, which implies Horizontal Cooperation Agreements, lies in the structure of the «Multilateral Contract Model», provided with certain degree of next characteristics: stability, complement and interdependence. An horizontal cooperation agreement, restrictive of the competition by object or by effect, can give, however, positive effects to the competition, resulting in the related exemption regulations are taken. According to this issue, there are, on the one hand, research and development agreements, which allow to combine several research abilities in order to allow the parts to produce better assets cheaper and to reduce the periods to put them into the market. On the other hand, there are the specialization agreements, which are a type of production horizontal agreements and can show any form. Then, the thorough analysis of the related exemption regulations allow to study the compatibility between the restriction of the competition and the «Companies Networks» and the Horizontal Cooperation Agreements.