Procedures for filing relating to paragraph 5(2)(b) of the Block Exemption Order
Under paragraph 5(2)(b) of the Block Exemption Order, parties to Agreements with an aggregate market share of above 50% are required to file their Agreements and any variation or amendment thereto with the CCS, subject to other conditions and obligations in the Block Exemption Order, to qualify for the block exemption from the section 34 prohibition.
The Commission’s acceptance of an Agreement for filing does not mean or imply that the provisions of the Block Exemption Order are satisfied and that the Agreement is exempt from the section 34 prohibition. It is for the parties to the Agreement to ensure that they comply with the provisions of the Block Exemption Order. Parties who wish to claim the benefit of the block exemption may be required under paragraph 5(4) of the Block Exemption Order, upon notice by the Commission, to demonstrate that the provisions of the Block Exemption Order are satisfied.
To file an Agreement, variation or amendment thereto, with the CCS, filing parties are required to submit:
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a certified true copy of the written Agreement and any variation or amendment thereto;
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where the Agreement or variation or amendment thereto is in a language other than English, a duly-certified translation of the same into the English language;
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where the Agreement or variation or amendment thereto or any part thereof is not in writing, a memorandum providing a full description of the details of the same;
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a soft copy of the Agreement (including any variation or amendment thereto), translation and/or memorandum (as the case may be) in PDF format and stored on a CD-ROM; and
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Form MBEO (please comply with Parts 2, 3, 5 and 6), a copy of which is available here.
Please note the following time periods for filing purposes:
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Where the Agreement and any variation or amendment thereto is in effect on or before 31 August 2006, such agreement and variation or amendment thereto must be filed with the CCS by 14 August 2006.
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Where the Agreement takes effect after 31 August 2006, such agreement must be filed with the CCS at least 14 days prior to the Agreement taking effect.
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Where the Agreement (and any variation or amendment thereto) has been filed with the CCS previously and there is a subsequent variation or amendment thereto, such variation or amendment together with the Agreement and all preceding variations or amendments must be filed with the CCS at least 14 days prior to the variation or amendment taking effect.
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Where the parties seek to satisfy paragraph 5(2)(b) upon the expiry of the grace period referred to in paragraph 6(1) or (2) of the BEO, the Agreement and any variation or amendment thereto must be filed with the Commission at least 14 days prior to the expiry of the grace period.
The CCS will only accept the filing of Agreements, or variations or amendments thereto that are finalized and, if the Agreement is in writing, the Agreement must be signed by all parties to the Agreement.
The CCS expects strict compliance with the time periods specified above but appreciate that under certain circumstances, strict compliance may not be possible. Where the time periods for filing above cannot be complied with strictly, please state in the filing form MBEO that the filing is out of time and the reason(s) why this is the case. The CCS will evaluate the application on a case-by-case basis. This should be the exception rather than the norm.
A list of the Agreements filed with the CCS is available here.