22.2.85 Official Journal of the European Communities No L §3/5 COMMISSION REGULATION (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 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 categories of agreements, decisions and concerted -practices (1), as last amended by the Act of Accession of Greece, and in particular Article 1 thereof, Having published a draft of this Regulation (?), . Having consulted  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 the research and development of products or processes up to the stage of industrial application, and exploitation of the results, including provisions regarding industrial property rights and confidential technical knowledge. (2) As stated in the Commission’s 1968 notice concerning agreements, decisions and concerted . practices in the field of cooperation between enterprises (®), agreements on the joint execution of research work or the joint development of the results of the research, up to but not including (1) OJ No L 285, 25.12. 1971, p. 46. (2) O] No C 16, 21.1.1984, p. 3. (3) O] No C75,29.7.1968, p. 3, corrected by O] No C 84, 28.8.1968, p. 14. the stage of industrial application, generally do- not fall within the scope of Article 85 (1) of the Treaty. In certain circumstances, however, such as where the parties agree not to carry out other research and development in the same field, thereby forgoing the opportunity of gaining competitive advantages over the other parties, such agreements may fall within Article 85 (1) and should therefore not be excluded from this Regulation. Agreements providing for both joint research and development and joint exploitation of the results - may fall within Article 85 (1) because the parties jointly determine how the products developed are manufactured or the processes developed are applied or:how related intellectual property rights or know-how are exploited. Cooperation in research and development and in the exploitation of the results generally promotes technical and economic progress by increasing the dissemination of technical knowledge between the parties and avoiding duplication of research and development work, by stimulating new advances through the exchange of complementary technical knowledge, and by rationalizing the manufacture of the products or applicatiori of the processes arising out of the research and development. These aims can be achieved only where the research and development programme and its objectives are clearly defined and each of the parties is given the opportunity of exploiting any of the results of the programme that interest it; where universities or research institutes participate and are not interested in the industrial exploitation of the results, however, it may be agreed that they may use the said results solely for the purpose of further research. Consumers can generally be expected to benefit - from the increased volume and effectiveness of research and development through the introduc- tion of new or improved products or services or the reduction of prices brought about by new or improved processes. :