Negative Clearance

A ruling by the European Commission in response to an application (made essentially on the same Form A/B as a notification) that an agreement or practice does not violate Articles 101 and/or 102 of the TFEU and therefore raises no issues under Competition Law.  Although the Commission can issue negative clearances, in practice it rarely does so, since each may be regarded as establishing a legal precedent, preferring to issue comfort letters.

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