One way in which companies can simultaneously achieve economies of scale and concentrate upon a shorter product range is through a specialisation agreement.

The currently applicable block exemption Regulation, issued by the Commission in 1985, exempts specialisation agreements coupled with exclusive purchasing conditions subject to certain conditions.

In this area, the Commission is now presenting us with two proposals for regulations, one on research and development agreements, and the other on the regulation of specialisation agreements, accompanied by guidelines.

Madam President, Commissioner, the two block exemption regulations, one of which refers to specialisation agreements and the other to research and development, will expire on 31 December of this year.

This is a critical time, because the guidelines for horizontal agreements are a decade old and the block exemption regulations for specialisation agreements and innovation and development agreements expire at the end of this year.

However, specialisation agreements are regarded by the Commission as improving the production and distribution of goods, because participating enterprises can concentrate on the manufacture of certain products and thus operate more efficiently, and supply their products more cheaply.

The Commission therefore deserves praise for trying to keep control of horizontal cooperation in specialisation agreements as well as in research and development agreements, two somewhat sensitive sectors, the particular features of which justify the special treatment they receive.

We know how rapidly the world economy is changing and so we are also aware of the increasing importance of research and development, the value of cooperation between companies, and the need for companies to specialise, and hence also the need for specialisation agreements.

On the one hand, the Commission has drawn up a revised version of the block exemption regulations on research and development and specialisation agreements, and, on the other hand, it has prepared draft guidelines on the applicability of article 81 to horizontal cooperation agreements.