Policy field
Competition: Antitrust
Background
Art. 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“the Treaty”) prohibits agreements between undertakings that restrict competition, unless they contribute to improving the production or distribution of goods or services or to promoting technical or economic progress while allowing consumers a fair share of the resulting benefits, in accordance with Art. 101(3) of the Treaty.
Technology transfer agreements are agreements by which one undertaking authorises another undertaking to use certain industrial property rights (e.g. patents, design rights, software copyrights) or know-how for the production of goods or services. In many cases, such agreements either do not restrict competition, i.e. they fall outside the scope of Article 101(1) of the Treaty, or they create objective efficiencies that are passed on to consumers and meet the conditions of Article 101(3) of the Treaty. However, technology transfer agreements, or certain clauses within such agreements, can also have negative effects on competition. In particular, they may facilitate collusion, restrict the ability of competitors to enter the market or to expand, or they may harm inter- or intra-technology competition, for example by reducing the incentives to innovate.
Council Regulation No 19/65/EEC empowers the Commission to apply Article 101(3) of the Treaty, by means of a regulation, to certain categories of technology transfer agreements. The Commission used this empowerment to adopt Commission Regulation (EC) No 316/2014 on the application of Article 101(3) of the Treaty to technology transfer agreements (‘the 2014 TTBER’), which expired on 30 April 2026.
The Commission also provided guidance on the assessment of technology transfer agreements in the accompanying Commission Communication - Guidelines on the application of Article 101 of the Treaty to technology transfer agreements (‘the 2014 Technology Transfer Guidelines’).
The purpose of the review was to gather evidence on the functioning of the 2014 TTBER and the 2014 Technology Transfer Guidelines, in order to help the Commission to decide whether to let the 2014 TTBER expire, or to extend it, with or without amendments.
Reference documents
The 2014 TTBER is available here and the 2014 Technology Transfer Guidelines are available here. Please note that these instruments are no longer in force.
The phases of the review
In accordance with the Commission’s Better Regulation principles, the review was divided into two phases: (i) an evaluation phase and (ii) an impact assessment phase.
A. Evaluation phase
The objective of the evaluation phase was to gather evidence on the functioning of the 2014 TTBER and the 2014 Technology Transfer Guidelines. In line with the Better Regulation principles, the evaluation was based on five evaluation criteria: effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added value.
The main consultations carried out for the evaluation were published on the dedicated webpage of the “Have Your Say” portal.
1. Call for Evidence
A Call for Evidence was published for consultation between 25 November and 23 December 2022.
12 stakeholders provided feedback and their responses were published on the Commission’s Have Your Say portal.
2. Public consultation
Stakeholders were also consulted via a public consultation questionnaire between 17 April and 24 July 2023.
- 20 respondents replied to the questionnaire and their replies are available on the Have Your Say portal.
- 2 other stakeholders also responded to the public consultation but not via the Have Your Say portal. Click here to access their submissions.
Click here to access the factual summary of the feedback to the public consultation.
3. Stakeholder workshop
An online stakeholder workshop was held on 6 December 2023. The workshop focused on areas of the 2014 TTBER and the 2014 Technology Transfer Guidelines that attracted the most comments in the call for evidence and public consultation.
Click here to access the summary of the stakeholder workshop.
4. Evaluation support study
An evaluation support study was carried out by a consortium consisting of LE Europe, European University Institute, Spark Legal and Ramboll Management Consulting.
Click here to access the support study report (including executive summaries in DE and FR).
5. Staff Working Document
A Commission Staff Working Document summarising the results of the evaluation of the 2014 TTBER and the 2014 Technology Transfer Guidelines was published on 22 November 2024. An Executive Summary is available in DE, EN and FR.
B. Impact Assessment phase
1. Call for evidence and public consultation
A Call for evidence and public consultation were held between 31 January and 25 April 2025.
- Access the replies to the Call for Evidence on the Have Your Say portal
- Access the replies to the public consultation on the Have Your Say portal
- Access the submissions received from 5 other stakeholders outside the Have Your Say portal
Click here to access the factual summary of the feedback to the public consultation.
2. Expert study
An expert study on data licensing was produced by Professor Peter Georg Picht of the University of Zürich.
3. Public consultation on the draft revised TTBER and Guidelines
A public consultation was held between 11 September 2025 and 23 October 2025.
Click here to access the replies to the consultation.
4. Reality Check
A reality check workshop was held on 12 November 2025. Download a summary of the discussions at the workshop.
5. Impact Assessment Report
The possible impacts of proposed changes to the 2014 TTBER and the 2014 Technology Transfer Guidelines were assessed in an Impact Assessment Report. The Report also summarised the results of the various consultation activities.
Download the Impact Assessment Report and the Executive Summary
6. Explanatory note on the main changes in the TTBER and Technology Transfer Guidelines adopted on 16 April 2026
Download the Explanatory note summarising the main changes made in the TTBER and the Technology Transfer Guidelines compared to the previous versions of these instruments.