Technology transfer agreements grant permission for one party to use another party's intellectual property, including patents and software copyrights, for the purpose of producing goods or services. Certain categories of technology transfer agreements are exempted by the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (TTBER) from the prohibition of anticompetitive agreements laid down in Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (EU). The main objective of TTBER is to increase the incentives for research and development (R&D), facilitate the dissemination of technology, and foster competitiveness.

Following the Call for Evidence launched in November 2022, the Commission has opened a new public consultation to gather evidence on how the TTBER has been applied in practice by companies and other interested parties. The evaluation is intended to help the Commission in determining whether to allow the current TTBER expire, make revisions to it, or renew it. The Commission invites all the interested parties to submit their views in any official EU language.

The public consultation will be open until 24 July 2023.

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