4. What are the exemptions?

Certain agreements or practices which could, a priori , be considered as constituting an agreement or an abuse of a dominant position, reprehensible under competition law, may nevertheless escape the sanctions provided for if they fall into the category of exempted agreements.

A cartel or abuse of a dominant position cannot be condemned when the economic balance sheet shows that the positive aspects of the cartel or abuse of a dominant position predominate.

These practices are then exempted on the basis of article L. 420-4 of the Code de commerce and article 101 § 3 of the TFEU for cartels.

In terms of intellectual property, technology transfer agreements and research and development...