On 10 May 2022, the European Commission (EC) published the revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER), together with the accompanying revised Guidelines on Vertical Restraints (Vertical Guidelines), which will replace the existing rules upon their expiry on 31 May 2022 (subject to the applicable transitional arrangements). The VBER exempts certain categories of agreements between businesses at different levels of the supply chain, so-called vertical agreements, from the prohibition on anti-competitive agreements, on the basis that their restrictive effects are counterbalanced by pro-competitive effects.