The European Commission has adopted a new Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (TTBER) and new Technology Transfer Guidelines for the assessment of technology transfer agreements under EU antitrust rules with effect from May 1 2014. Although the TTBER provides for rather substantial restrictions on the stipulations in technology transfer agreements compared to the former TTBER 2004, many of the modifications that were laid down in the first drafts (such as adaption of the market-share thresholds) did not subsequently enter into force. The main changes introduced by the new TTBER are discussed below.
