Official Gazette, 2004, No. 181-6732
Effective as of 19 December 2004

RESOLUTION OF THE COMPETITION COUNCIL OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

CONCERNING THE AMENDMENT OF RESOLUTION No. 1 OF 13 JANUARY 2000 OF THE COMPETITION COUNCIL OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA “ON REQUIREMENTS AND CONDITIONS IN RESPECT OF AGREEMENTS of minor importance THAT ARE NOT CONSIDERED INFRINGING ARTICLE 5(1) AND (2) OF THE LAW ON COMPETITION”

9 December 2004, No. 1S-172, Vilnius

The Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania has resolved:

to amend the Resolution No. 1 of 13 January 2000 of the Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania “On requirements and conditions in respect of agreements of minor importance which are not considered infringing Art. 5 (1) and (2) of the Law on Competition“ (Official Gazette, 2000, No. 6-176) and lay it down in a new wording:

THE COMPETITION COUNCIL OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

RESOLUTION

ON THE APPROVAL OF REQUIRMENTS AND CONDITIONS IN RESPECT OF AGREEMENTS OF MINOR IMPORTANCE WHICH DO NOT APPRECIABLY RESTRICT COMPETITION

Acting in accordance with Art. 5 (4) of the Law on Competition of the Republic of Lithuania (Official Gazette, 1999, No. 30-856; 2004, No. 63-2244) the Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania has resolved:

to approve the requirements and conditions in respect of agreements of minor importance which do not appreciably restrict competition (attached).

CHAIRMAN Rimantas Stanikūnas

APPROVED:

Resolution No. 1 of 13 January 2000 of the Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania
(wording of the Resolution No. 1S-172 of 9 December 2004 of the Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania)

REQUIREMENTS AND CONDITIONS IN RESPECT OF AGREEMENTS OF MINOR IMPORTANCE, WHICH DO NOT APPRECIABLY RESTRICT COMPETITION

PRINCIPAL PROVISIONS

1. The requirements and conditions in respect of agreements of minor importance which do not appreciably restrict competition (further - the Requirements), set forth the requirements and conditions under which agreements of minor importance concluded by undertakings are considered not able to substantially restrict competition and are exempted from Art. 5 of the Law on Competition of the Republic of Lithuania (further - the Law on Competition) (Official Gazette, 1999, No. 30-856; 2004, No. 63-2244).
2. Principle concepts used in the present Requirements:

Vertical agreement means an agreement between two or more undertakings each operating at a different level of a production or distribution and establishing the terms and conditions for purchase, sale and resale of products.

Horizontal agreement means an agreement between two or more undertakings each operating at the same level of a production of distribution and establishing the terms and conditions for purchase, sale and resale of products.

Mixed agreement means an agreement bearing the features of both vertical and horizontal agreement.

3. Other concepts used in these Requirements correspond to those used in the Law on Competition.

AGREEMENTS OF MINOR IMPORTANCE, WHICH DO NOT APPRECIABLY RESTRICT COMPETITION

4. Agreements of minor importance which do not appreciably restrict competition are considered the following:
   1. horizontal agreements between undertakings the aggregate share of the relevant market held thereby does not exceed 10;
   2. vertical agreements between undertakings with individual market shares not exceeding 15%;
   3. mixed agreements between undertakings with the aggregate market share not exceeding 10%.
5. Where restrictive effect in the relevant market is caused by the cumulative impact of agreements imposing similar restrictions upon competition, the market shares established in item 4 shall not exceed 5%. Individual suppliers or distributors with a market share not exceeding 5% are in general not considered to contribute significantly to a cumulative foreclosure effect. A cumulative foreclosure effect is unlikely to exist if less than 30% of the relevant market are covered by parallel agreements having similar effect.
6. Agreements are not considered restrictive of competition where the market shares of the undertakings in two consecutive years do not exceed the market shares specified in items 4 and 5 by more than 2 percentage points.
7. Items 4, 5 and 6 of the Requirements are not applied to horizontal agreements:
   1. to directly or indirectly fix prices of certain goods;
   2. to share the product market on a territorial basis, according to groups of buyers or suppliers or in any other way;
   3. to fix production or sale volumes of certain product.
8. Items 4, 5 and 6 of the present Requirements are not applied to vertical agreements that directly or indirectly restrict:
   1. the buyer’s ability to fix its sale price. This provision does not prohibit the supplier from fixing a maximum or recommendatory sale price;
   2. the territory or the customers in which or to which the buyer can sell the products. This provision does not prohibit to establishing restrictions:
      1. to perform active sales into exclusive territories or an exclusive customer group where such a restriction does not limit sales by the customers of the buyer;
      2. sales to end users by the buyer operating at a wholesale level of trade;
      3. sales to unauthorised distributors by the members of a selective distribution system;
      4. buyer’s ability to sell components supplied to him for the purposes of incorporation to customers who would use them to manufacture the same type of goods as those produced by the supplier;
   3. active or passive sales to end users by members of a selective distribution system operating at a retail level of trade;
   4. cross-supplies between members of a selective distribution system including between distributors operating at a different level of trade;
   5. the supplier’s ability to sell components as spare parts to end users or an undertaking providing repair services not entrusted by the buyer with the repair or servicing of its goods or rendering of other services, when such a restriction is established by the agreement between the supplier of components and the buyer incorporating the components.
9. Items 4, 5 and 6 of the Requirements are not applied to mixed agreements where such agreements contain at least one restriction referred to in items 7 and 8 of the Requirements.

FINAL PROVISIONS

10. The Competition Council having established that competition in the relevant market is restricted by the cumulative effect of the agreements may impose sanctions stipulated in Art. 40 of the Law on Competition except for a fine upon the undertakings having concluded the agreement.