The European Commission will temporarily relax cartel rules so that thousands of companies in the EU whose supply chains have been disrupted by sanctions against Russia can band together to buy, supply or distribute products without violating competition rules, reports Reuters.

The EC has published the guidance jointly with the national competition authorities and the Supervisory Authority after dozens of businesses sought advice on how to deal with violations caused by the sanctions.

This type of cooperation between companies will most likely either not result in a restriction of competition or will result in efficiency gains that are likely to outweigh any such restriction, the competition authorities said.

EU regulators will not actively intervene in strictly necessary and temporary initiatives specifically aimed at preventing major disruptions caused by the impact of war and/or sanctions on the single market, they said.

However, regulators warn companies against using the situation to create cartels or abuse their dominant market position. Companies that violate EU antitrust rules face fines of up to 10% of their global turnover.