No L 21/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 29. 1. 93 COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 151/93 of 23 December 1992 amending Regulations (EEC) No 417/85, (EEC) No 418/85, (EEC) No 2349/84 and (EEC) No 556/89 on the application of Article 85 (3) of the Treaty to certain categories of specialization agreements, research and development agreements, patent licensing agreements and know-how licensing agreements THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, - Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2821/71 of 20 December 1971 on the application of Article 85 (3) of the Treaty to certain categories of agreements, deci- sions and concerted practices ('), as last amended by the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal, and in particular Article 1 thereof, Having regard to Council Regulation No 19/65/EEC of 2 March 1965 on the application of Article 85 (3) of the Treaty to certain categories of agreements and concerted practices (%), as last amended by the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal, and in particular to Article 1 thereof, Having published a draft of this Regulation (), After consulting the Advisory Committee on Restrictive Practices and Dominant Positions, Whereas : (1)  Regulation (EEC) No 2821/71 empowers the Commission to apply Article 85 (3) of the Treaty by regulation to certain categories of agreements, . decisions and concerted practices falling within the scope of Article 85 (1) which have as their object specialization, including agreements necessary for achieving it, or the research and development of products or processes up to the stage of industrial application, and exploitation of the results, in- cluding provisions regarding industrial property rights and confidential technical knowledge; (2 It has made use of this power by adopting Regula- tions 417/85 of 19 December 1984 on the applica- tion of Article 85 (3) of the Treaty to categories of specialization agreements (¥), and (EEC) No 418/85 of 19 December 1984 on the application of Article 85 (3) of the Treaty to categories of research and development agreements (), respectively, as () OJ No L 285, 29. 12. 1971, p. 46. () OJ No 36, 6. 3. 1965, p. 533/65. () OJ No C 207, 14. 8. 1992, p. 11. () OJ No L 53, 22. 2. 1985, p. 1. () OF No L 53, 22. 2. 1985, p. 5. amended by the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal ; (3)  Regulation No 19/65/EEC empowers the Commis- sion to apply Article 85 (3) of the Treaty by regula- tion to certain categories of agreements to which only two undertakings are party and which include restrictions imposed in relation to the acquisition or use of industrial property rights — in particular patents, utility models, designs or trade marks — or to the rights arising out of contracts for assignment of, or the right to use, a method of manufacture or knowledge relating to the use or application of industrial processes ; (4) It has made use of this power by adopting Regula- tions (EEC) No 2349/84 of 23 July 1984 on the application of Article 85 (3) of the Treaty to certain categories of patent licensing agreements (%), as amended by the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal, and (EEC) No 556/89 of 30 November 1988 on the application of Article 85 (3) of the Treaty to certain categories of know-how licensing agreements ("), respectively, as amended in the case of the former by the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal ; (5) It is appropriate to extend the scope of application of the abovementioned group exemption Regula- tions in order to facilitate the rationalization of production, the exploitation of results of joint research and development and the transfer of tech- nical knowledge ; (6) To that end, Regulations (EEC) No 417/85 and (EEC) No 418/85 must be amended so as to extend cover to joint distribution of specialized products or products resulting from joint research and develop- ment, provided that the market share of the parti- cipating undertakings does not exceed a certain limit. The market share should be limited to 10 % for agreements establishing cooperation which extends to distribution, by reason of the more restrictive effects of such agreements on competi- () OJ No L 219, 16. 8. 1984, p. 15. Corrigendum : OJ No L 280, 22. 10. 1985, p. 32. () OJ No'L 61, 4. 3. 1989, p. 1.