The EU Commission’s Guidelines on horizontal cooperation agreements: sustainability agreements and the safe harbour for sustainability standards

The role that various areas of law may play in addressing sustainability objectives is currently under debate. In competition law, the topic is part of a larger discussion about the use of antitrust law to further non-economic objectives and its alignment with the traditional consumer welfare standard. The process of revising the Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations provided an opportunity for the European Commission to address sustainability agreements. The new Horizontal Guidelines, adopted in June 2023, include a specific chapter dedicated to them. This paper analyses the main features of this chapter, within which a significant part is devoted to sustainability standards. The analysis highlights that the Commission has cautiously confirmed its traditional stance while considering broader forms of benefits in the competitive assessment, providing a soft safe harbour for sustainability standards, and maintaining a certain degree of flexibility.