The Resolution by the EP touches upon examples taken from the Dutch economy practice of horizontal agreements in which companies operating in the same sector of economy come together and jointly decide to protect the environment by restricting particular practices.
The Resolution by the EP touches upon examples taken from the Dutch economy practice of horizontal agreements in which companies representing a certain sector come together and jointly decide to protect the environment by restricting particular practices.
The European Parliament notes that the narrow interpretation of Article 101 of the TFEU by the Commission’s horizontal guidelines has increasingly been considered an obstacle to the collaboration of smaller market players for the adoption of higher environmental and social standards; believes that the Commission should create legal certainty on the conditions under which collective arrangements of producers’ organisations, including cooperatives, their associations and inter-branch organisations that are made throughout the food supply chain for the purpose of sustainability and fair labour standards, would be assessed under competition law, and encourage such initiatives within competition policy; stresses that such an approach should not prevent the production of lower-priced goods, especially in sectors where consumers are more price-sensitive; stresses also the importance of the proportionality principle, meaning that limitation of competition cannot go beyond what is necessary to achieve the general interest;
