The European Commission has revealed outline plans for a 200,000 Euro study into the effects of the 2002 block exemption revisions on the automotive industry.

The six-month investigation will begin this summer and is expected to form a platform for the discussion of the next revisions due in 2010.

Its Directorate-General for Competition has published a call for tenders from organisations capable of conducting the study, with the bids due to be considered on May 2.

It states the basic aim of assessing whether the objectives set in the block exemption regulations are being reflected in the industry, with particular focus on the distribution of new cars, aftersales services and spare parts distribution.

In a statement, the Commission says the study will involve “quantitative description” of competition regimes in the motor vehicle sector and analysis of the evolution of various member states’ car markets between 1997 and 2004.

The team is expected is complete the study by the end of this year and prepare a report to he Commission next spring.