EU Competition Law Applicable to Distribution Agreements: Review of 2011 and Outlook for 2012

After the adoption of the new Block Exemption Regulation on vertical restraints No. 330/2010 and of the ‘motor vehicle pack’, European competition law applic- able to distribution agreements seems to have entered into a new era: one of debate and conflict. Three par- ticular fields are now discussed extensively in the case law which will give birth to the law of tomorrow: dis- tribution via the internet, the rivalry between European competition law and the national laws on restrictive practices, and the acceptance of the economic analysis of vertical restraints under substantive law. The discussion is open on all three issues.