What Are The Updated Rules Around EU And UK Tech Licensing?

Europe has spent four years reworking how companies license and share technology through different markets. The European Commission has replaced rules first written in 2014 with an updated framework that took effect on the first of this month. The process began with an evaluation published in November 2024, followed by an impact assessment and a public consultation that gathered views from businesses, competition authorities and other participants.

Technology licensing agreements allow a company that owns patents, design rights or software copyright to grant another company permission to use that technology in products or services. The Commission explained that these agreements help spread innovation and support research and development, although certain restrictions inside them can harm competition.

The revised regulation keeps the same legal base under Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Agreements that restrict competition are prohibited, although exemptions apply when they improve production or support technical or economic progress and allow consumers a fair share of the benefits.

The update responds to how digital markets operate today. The Commission pointed to the growing importance of data and the use of standard essential technologies that allow devices and services to work together across different systems.

What Do The Rules Say About Data Licensing?

Data now is a big topic in the updated guidance – the Commission has added a detailed section explaining how agreements that grant access to data for production purposes will be assessed under competition law.

It explained that licensing databases protected by copyright or the EU database right is generally pro competitive. This gives companies a firmer basis for sharing structured datasets that support manufacturing, digital services and analytics.

The guidance also explains how companies exchange information in these agreements. The Commission confirmed that exchanges related to database licensing will not usually count as inherently harmful to competition unless they go beyond what is necessary for the agreement to function.

The rules also take account of the EU Data Act 2023. The Commission confirmed that data sharing required under that law will generally comply with competition rules, except where it is used as a cover for behaviour such as price fixing.

How Are Group Negotiations And Shared Technology Handled?

The updated guidance examines licensing negotiation groups, where companies negotiate licence terms together with technology owners. These groups appear more often in sectors that rely on standardised technologies such as telecommunications.

The Commission explained that transparent groups that limit their activity to negotiating licence terms will usually operate within competition rules. It declined to grant them automatic protection. The Commission said, “LNGs are a relatively new type of agreement, for which there is limited enforcement experience. There was therefore a risk that the conditions of the safe harbour might not address all the possible competition concerns”.

Technology pools also receive more detailed treatment under the updated framework. These arrangements allow multiple companies to combine technology rights into a package that can be licensed to contributors and third parties, often supporting shared standards across industries.

The guidance requires pool operators to disclose which rights sit inside the pool and explain how they decide those rights are essential. It also requires that companies are not charged more than once for the same rights and that licences follow fair, reasonable and non discriminatory terms.

How Do The EU And UK Approaches Differ?

The UK has brought in its own version through the Technology Transfer Agreements Block Exemption Order, following a separate review by the government and the Competition and Markets Authority. Both the EU and UK systems started on 1 May 2026.

A transition period runs until 30 April 2027 for agreements that complied with the previous framework. New agreements must follow the updated rules from the start.

The EU system applies when market shares stay within defined limits. Licensing agreements qualify when shares do not exceed 20% between competitors or 30% between non competitors. The updated guidance also explains that technologies with no sales count as having a market share of zero, which affects how early stage innovations are treated.

The UK framework takes a different route in certain cases. It allows exemptions when three or more independent competing technology rights exist, even if market share thresholds are not met. It also treats database copyright and database rights fully as technology rights, whereas the EU system assesses those on a case by case basis.

The Competition and Markets Authority is consulting on guidance for the UK framework until 11 June. Both systems will run for 12 years, with expiry dates set for 2038.

Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition says, “Clear and predictable rules are essential for innovation to thrive. With these updated technology transfer rules, we provide businesses with practical guidance for licensing in a fast-moving digital economy. By supporting pro-competitive licensing, we help ensure that technology, including data, can circulate more widely, encourage investment in research and innovation, and reinforce Europe’s competitiveness on a fair and open basis.”