Article 210a of the CMO Regulation: supporting the transition to a sustainable food system in the Union and strengthening the position of producers in the agri-food supply chain

Since December 2021, Article 210a of Regulation 1308/2013 excludes certain restrictive agreements in the agricultural sector from the prohibition in Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union when those agreements are indispensable to achieve sustainability standards going beyond the mandatory EU or national rules. Moreover, on 7 December 2023, the European Commission adopted guidelines concerning the conditions for the application of Article 210a. This article therefore describes Article 210a and the Commission’s guidelines and assesses the extent to which those guidelines will contribute to the stated aim of Article 210a, which is to support the transition to a sustainable food system in the Union and to strengthen the position of producers in the agri-food supply chain.