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The Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation (MVBER) is essential to the automotive aftermarket sector, as it legally secures suppliers’ ability to sell spare parts to authorised repairers, independent repairers and distributors or to the end users directly. 

As the MVBER is expiring on 31 May 2023, the European Commission needs to review certain aspects of the regulation and has recently published a draft Communication amending its Supplementary Guidelines. The proposed changes aim to keep the MVBER in place for five additional years and therefore continue to facilitate companies’ self-assessment of their vertical agreements in the automotive sector with EU competition rules. And secondly, make it clear that vehicle-generated data may be an essential input for repair and maintenance services. These changes will provide clarity for companies concerning the way the Commission views issues related to access to data generated by the cars’ sensors. 

CLEPA welcomes the Commission’s initiative to extend the MVBER and make the proposed modifications to the Supplementary Guidelines. Looking at a potential future revision of the MVBER, the association would request that broader responses to the transformation of the sector are included in the text. CLEPA would also recommend that the MVBER has a longer extension period, in order to accurately reflect the current restrictions and digitalisation of the market. 

More information 

The European Commission’s Directorate-General Competition (DG COMP), in charge of this file, opened a public consultation on a call for evidence, to which CLEPA provided feedback.