Types of Vertical restraints and their classification criteria

Abstract

The urgent need to prepare the Russian version of Guidelines on vertical restraints (the analog of very detailed EU Guidelines) requires intense efforts. In particular, it is necessary to define and to describe many types of vertical restraints that are not mentioned in Russian antitrust law now (the list contains only the maximum/minimum resale price maintenance, exclusive territories, fixed payments for access to the distribution network). The first part of the article discusses the basic types of vertical restraints and their classification criteria used in theoretical literature. The second part of the article is dedicated to the description of vertical restraints mentioned in EU Guidelines on Vertical Restraints. This document pays attention not only to basic types of vertical restraints, but also to much more complicated distribution systems. In the third part of the article the possible classifications of these types of vertical restraints are considered.