On 21st December, the European Commission released the draft Regulation and Guidelines that are to follow the expiry of the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation 1400,2002 and provide the future competition legislative framework for the automotive sector.

FIGIEFA concurs with the overall analysis of the Commission that the repair and maintenance market is still prone to competition problems. FIGIEFA therefore welcomes the Commission’s approach to combine a sector-specific Block Exemption Regulation (BER) with sector-specific Guidelines for the aftermarket, in particular with regards to access to spare parts, technical information and restrictive or abusive warranty terms.

“We welcome that the Commission recognises the need to tackle still persisting problems in the aftermarket by maintaining key-provisions of the current BER and by recommending sector-specific legislation, which will bring clarity to the stakeholders to the benefit of consumers“ says Michel Vilatte, President of FIGIEFA.

Nonetheless, FIGIEFA calls for an improvement and for the completion of the present wording and this before the expiry of the BER 1400,2002. The provisions contained in the draft instruments should be made clearer and more SME-friendly. Any new regulatory framework should clearly outline what kind of anti-competitive behaviour would trigger sanctions from the Commission. “The new rules must be ‘future-proof’ for the next decade and must avoid margins of interpretation which could then result in litigations”, says Michel Vilatte. Therefore, the wording on technical information and abuse of warranties and other types of tying measures must be improved, and features such as access to captive parts for parts wholesalers must be included as to remedy to current problems in the competitive supply of spare parts.

Besides, FIGIEFA is not the only stakeholder to support the need for clear