3.1.2 Sales restrictions on buyers which can benefit from the De Minimis Notice

Where a supplier operates an exclusive distribution system and does not at the same time operate a selective distribution system for the same product, it is not a hardcore restriction to prohibit the buyer from actively selling in the territory or to the customer group allocated exclusively to another distributor or reserved for the supplier.1.

Within selective distribution systems it is not a hardcore restriction to prohibit authorized distributors, within the territory where the selective distribution system operates, from selling to distributors who are not members of the selective distribution system.2. This does not apply to restrictions on selected distributors on reselling spare parts for motor vehicles to independent repairers.3.

As regards restrictions on the resale of components4. it is not a hardcore restriction if the buyer is prohibited from selling components, supplied for the purpose of incorporation in another product, to customers who would use them to manufacture the same type of goods as those produced by the supplier. An example would be a situation in which a producer of photocopiers supplies components to a producer of printers for the purpose of incorporating those components into the printers. The producer of photocopiers can prohibit the producer of printers from reselling the components to producers of photocopiers without the risk that the prohibition will be seen as a restriction by object.

Similarly, it is not a hardcore restriction to prohibit a buyer, who operates as a wholesaler, from reselling passively or actively to end users.5.