Dominique Ferré

On 23 January 2019, the Paris Court of Appeal heard a now classic dispute between a food retail franchisor and one of its franchisees, alleging a state of economic dependence on the franchisor. We had already recently identified a solution in this area (CA Paris, 3 Oct. 2018, Concurrences, n° (...)

In a decision handed down on October 3, 2018, the Paris Court of Appeal heard a dispute between a franchisor and its franchisee, an operator of a convenience store, who had terminated its franchise agreement to join a competing food retailer. Nothing could be more banal in reality. However, (...)

A French company had concluded a so-called "representation contract" with a company incorporated under Polish law whose business was the manufacture of furniture. Under the terms of the contract, it was agreed that the French company would receive a 6% commission on all orders taken or (...)

A franchisee had entered into a franchise agreement with a company that had developed a concept of pulsed light hair removal treatments. He was being sued by a competitor of the franchisor for acts of unfair competition due to the illegal practice of medicine. The Paris Court of Appeal, (...)

In a decision handed down on July 18, 2018, the Paris Court of Appeal recalls the stakes and consequences of the breach of the commercial agency contract. Its solution deserves to be reported because it provides an overview of the fundamental issues in this area. After recalling the (...)

Following the termination of relations with his principal, a commercial agent had summoned the latter, to whom he claimed payment of compensation for the loss suffered as a result of the termination, on the basis of Article L. 134-12 of the Civil Code. In defence, the principal had opposed the (...)

The commercial agency system, laid down in Articles L. 134-1 et seq. of the EC Treaty, transposes the provisions of Directive 86/653/EEC of 18 December 1986 on the coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents. Article 17(3) of the Directive, (...)

This quarter again, a decision published in the bulletin of the Court of Cassation concerning the admission of claims for commissions by commercial agents to the collective procedure. In substance, the Court of Cassation first of all states that, pursuant to article L. 134-6 of the Commercial (...)

A company incorporated under Swedish law wished to develop its sales in Italy and had offered a company domiciled in France to be its commercial agent, without the relationship being formalised in a written contract. Following disputes between the parties, the principal had terminated the (...)

The commercial agent benefits from a protective regime enabling him to claim, depending on the circumstances of the termination of his contract, compensation for the loss he suffers on that occasion (article L. 134-12 C. com.). The benefit of this protection is often claimed by professionals (...)

In this case, a court of appeal had ordered a principal who had terminated the contract between him and his commercial agent to pay compensation in lieu of notice (article L. 134-11 of the Code of Civil Procedure) and termination of contract (article L. 134-12 of the Code of Civil Procedure). (...)

In two recent cases, the Court of Cassation has had occasion to reiterate the conditions of application of the status of commercial agent. In a first case, the Court had before it an application for reclassification of a so-called "advertising brokerage" contract as a commercial agency (...)

Decisions on the terms and conditions of payment of the commercial agent’s commissions by the principal, and more specifically on the date of payment of these commissions, are rather rare and are worth noting in this respect. It should be recalled that Article L. 134-9 paragraph 2 C. com. (...)

In the event of termination of his contract, the commercial agent shall benefit from a protective regime enabling him to claim, depending on the circumstances, several allowances. The indemnity provided for in Article L. 134-12 C. com. is in principle payable by the principal at the origin of (...)

The termination of relations between a commercial agent and his principal entitles the agent to compensation from his principal, the purpose of which is to make good the prejudice which the termination of relations causes him for the future (art. L. 134-12 C. com.). However, such a right to (...)

A commercial agent sought payment of the termination indemnity after his principal had terminated the agency agreement between them. The latter had never invoked any serious misconduct on the part of the agent but had opposed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on financial grounds, (...)

The commercial agency system, laid down in Articles L. 134-1 et seq. of the EC Treaty, transposes the provisions of Directive 86/653/EEC of 18 December 1986 on the coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents. Chapter III of the Directive, which (...)

In a first case, a non-competition clause in a commercial agency contract prohibited the manager of the commercial agency company from accepting the representation of a competing undertaking "in the cities to which he travelled for assignments during the course of the (...) contract". After the (...)

On pain of losing it, the commercial agent must notify his principal of his wish to assert his right to compensation for termination of contract within one year of the termination of the contract (Article L. 134-12 C. com.). In a first case, the Court of Cassation points out that the (...)

The commercial agency system, established in Articles L. 134-1 et seq. of the EC Treaty, transposes the provisions of Directive 86/653 of 18 December 1986 on the coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents. It might therefore be expected that, at (...)

Both the conditions and the effects of the termination of the commercial agency contract are strictly regulated by the law (which explains in particular why the commercial agency contract escapes the litigation of the abrupt termination of established commercial relations referred to in Article (...)

Article L. 134-12 C. com. provides that the commercial agent is entitled to a compensatory indemnity to compensate for the loss suffered in the event of termination of his relations with the principal. This right to indemnity has its origin in Directive 86/653/EEC of 18 December 1986 on the (...)

At the beginning of last year, the Court of Cassation had taken a position on the absence of the character of a mandatory law in the international order of the law of 25 June 1991 relating to relations between commercial agents and their principals (cf. Cass. com., 5 January 2016, M. S. c/ (...)

The status of commercial agent and of sales representative are in many respects similar; apart from the fact that they both benefit representatives carrying on a commercial activity on behalf of a third party - agent for the commercial agent and employer for the sales representative - the (...)

Serious misconduct on the part of the commercial agent shall deprive him of his right to receive the termination indemnity provided for in Article L. 134-12 of the French Commercial Code. In a consideration that is rather favourable to the commercial agent, case law strictly defines the serious (...)

The right of the commercial agent to receive compensation at the end of the contract ceases when he initiates the termination of the agency contract (Art. L. 134-13, 2° C. com.). In the present case, claiming various breaches by their principal, commercial agents had summoned him to terminate (...)

Also of note this quarter is a decision of the Lyon Court of Appeal, which reminds us that the public policy nature of the law of 25 June 1991 is limited in its effects in an international context. Indeed, in the context of a dispute relating to a commercial agency contract subject to foreign (...)

The Court of Cassation will return again this quarter to the conditions of application of the specific protective regime applicable to commercial agents. In the present case, following the termination of its commercial relations, a company had summoned its former partners to obtain the (...)

While the specific protective regime applicable to commercial agents provides in principle for the right to a so-called "termination indemnity" in the event of termination of their relations with their principal (Article L. 134-12 C. com.), there are nevertheless circumstances in which the (...)

In a first case (Appeal No. 15-10029), the Court of Cassation agreed with the trial judges for having rejected the franchisee’s request for the nullity of the franchise agreement on the grounds of fraud and error invoked in the context of the transmission of pre-contractual information. It (...)

Litigation at the initiative of the defeated distributor hoping to challenge the validity of the distribution contract is not weakening... In a recent case, a distributor placed in receivership sought the annulment of its selective distribution contract. He invoked, on the one hand, error as to (...)

In the event of termination of a commercial agency contract, Article L. 134-11 C. com. provides for the payment of compensation in lieu of notice as a penalty for failure by one of the parties to comply with a notice period set at one month for the first year of performance of the contract, two (...)

For the record, the specific protective regime applicable to commercial agents laid down in Articles L. 134-1 et seq. of the Commercial Code provides for the payment of compensation in lieu of notice (Article L. 134-11 of the Commercial Code) and for termination of contract (Article L. 134-12 (...)

Article L. 134-12 C. com., which provides for the payment to a staff member, in the event of termination of a commercial agency contract, of an indemnity known as a termination indemnity, provides that the purpose of the indemnity is to compensate for the damage suffered by the staff member. (...)

A company governed by French law had concluded a commercial agency contract with an agent (whose nationality is at no time - strangely enough - specified by the Court of Cassation) for the exclusive representation of its products on German territory. As the principal company had terminated the (...)

For the distribution of its works, a publishing company had successively concluded two commercial agency contracts with the same agent. Shortly before the expiry of these two contracts, it had initiated negotiations with its agent with a view to concluding a new contract to replace the first (...)

Serious misconduct on the part of the agent, which deprives him of a termination indemnity, is defined by case law as that "which undermines the common purpose of the mandate of common interest and makes it impossible to maintain the contractual link" (Cass. com., 15 Oct. 2002). While such (...)

However, a commercial agent, who had terminated his contract, claimed payment of the statutory indemnity for termination of contract (article L. 134-12 C. com.), on the ground that the principal had prevented him from carrying out his mission by failing to provide an answer to his "problems of (...)

An employee had brought an action before the industrial tribunal in order to have his "sales representative" contract reclassified as a sales representative contract. The Court of Cassation approved the judges of the merits who had refused the status of sales representative because of "the (...)

This quarter, five decisions again illustrate the ever-increasing litigation concerning the application of employment law to distributors. The first concerned a tenant manager (cf. CA Rouen 29 Sept. 2015, RG n°15/00040). After the network promoter terminated his contract, a lessee-manager of a (...)

A commercial agent, who sought the reclassification of his agency contract as an employment contract, claimed that he carried out his activity on a ’continuous and substantial’ basis at the premises of the principal company, which was his sole client, and that he had an e-mail address in the (...)

In two decisions concerning sales representatives, the Court of Cassation reaffirms the principle that professional expenses incurred by the employee must be borne by the employer: In the first decision, the employer had deducted from the salesperson’s commissions amounts corresponding to the (...)

In three decisions concerning the real estate sector, multi-card sales representatives requested the requalification of their part-time employment contract into a full-time employment contract, in order to benefit from the remuneration at least equal to the minimum gross salary (corresponding (...)

The reclassification of distribution contracts as employment contracts is a major source of litigation, particularly because of the permeability of the boundaries between distribution law and employment law. Various reasons can be invoked: in general: the difficulties encountered by (...)

The Douai Court of Appeal ruled that the principal takes the initiative to terminate the contract by imposing on the commercial agent substantial modifications of the contract with a reduction of his geographical area, an increase in his objectives "under penalty of termination of the contract" (...)

The Colmar Court of Appeal, considering not only the "contractual terms" but also the conditions under which "the activity[ was] actually carried out", denied the status of commercial agent to a "provider of services in commercial matters" who merely transmitted orders "without ever being able (...)

The commercial agency contract is not only a source of litigation at the time of its termination (on this very extensive litigation, see our obs. in previous columns), but its execution is more rarely denounced. The case judged by the Court of Cassation in a decision - published in the Bulletin (...)

A principal, having discovered that his commercial agent was selling, without his consent, trademarks competing with his own, had terminated the contract for serious misconduct, claiming a violation of Art. L. 134-3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which requires the agent to obtain the prior (...)

The Court of Cassation ruled that "a probationary period could not be validly stipulated" in the sales representative’s contract concluded as an extension of a commercial agency contract when the employee’s duties had remained unchanged and he had performed them for several years so that the (...)

Cass. com, 20 Jan. 2015, Covidien, No. 13-24.231 Could it not be considered that the person who - prior to any discussion of the terms of the contract - discusses with the prospect the very principle of the conclusion of the contract and has "levers" such as the offer of benefits in kind at (...)

A principal, having breached a commercial agency contract, had been sued for damages by the agent company before the latter transferred its trading activity to another company as part of a partial asset contribution. The company receiving the contribution had then wanted to pursue the action (...)

Cass. soc. 14 Jan. 2015, Ms X. c/ EDI 40, No. 13-14.752 The Court of Cassation criticised the Pau Court of Appeal for having excluded the qualification of VRP on the basis of a clause in the employment contract authorising the employer to change the geographical sector, "whereas [the] (...)

Cass. soc., 14 Jan. 2015, Mrs X. v. NCH France, No. 13-16.229 The Paris Court of Appeal had dismissed a sales representative’s request for termination of the contract against the employer, pointing out that it was up to "the sales representative to justify the expenses incurred in the course of (...)

CA Amiens, 18 Dec. 2014, Alain F. c/ Thierry B., RG n° 11/00490 Recalling that "the relationship between the commercial agent and the principal shall, in accordance with the provisions of Article L. 134-4 of the Commercial Code, governed by a duty of loyalty and a reciprocal obligation to (...)

Cass. com. Dec. 9, 2014, HCF, No. 13-23.309 The termination indemnity necessarily takes into account the loss of the right of presentation of a successor as a result of the non-transmission of the contract. The commercial agent only loses his right to compensation for termination of contract (...)

Cass. com, Dec. 9, 2014, CCCP c/ SRC, No. 13-28.170 and 13-28.171 The Court of Cassation agrees with the Paris Court of Appeal that the fact of having qualified as serious misconduct making it impossible to maintain contractual relations and excluding any indemnity, the fact of : manifest "a (...)

CA Caen, Dec. 4, 2014, Jean-Pierre V. c/ Patrick B., RG n° 13/02063 The Caen Court of Appeal ruled that the manager of a commercial agent company, who represents a competitor of the principal in his capacity as a sales representative without having informed the latter, commits "a serious breach (...)

The Court of Cassation approved the Court of Appeal of Agen for refusing to reclassify a sales representative contract as a contract of employment, since "the employee performed the function of representative on behalf of his employer in a specific sector of activity and the essential part of (...)

Cass. com, Nov. 25, 2014, M. X. v. La Montagne, No. 13-25.266->doc27378]; Cass. com, Dec. 9, 2014, ACE v. Duravit, No. 13-22.476 In a first case, a press trustee sued by a broadcaster for damages for wrongful termination of a mandate of common interest challenged, first, the classification of (...)

The Court of Cassation censured the Rennes Court of Appeal for having imputed the breach of a commercial agency contract to the principal on the grounds that he had substantially modified the conditions of performance of the contract by preventing the agent from maintaining contact with (...)

An intermediary, whose task was to present and promote a company’s products, without being able to conclude a contract on behalf of the company or to change the terms and conditions of sale set by the company, claimed the status of commercial agent. In order to assert that it had bargaining (...)

The qualification of sales representative is frequently sought by agent distributors, in particular commercial agents, seeking, upon termination of the relationship, the benefit of an even more protective status (see for example CA Bourges, 14 March 2014, RG n° 13/01121, M. S. c/ Immobilier des (...)

Cass. soc., 21 October 2014, Mr X. v. Sico, Appeal No. 13-11.929 S.C.C., 21 October 2014, Ms Y. v. Sico, Appeal No. 13-11.150 The Court of Cassation approved the Courts of Appeal of Poitiers and Bourges for having requalified as employment contracts "sales representative contracts under the (...)

A principal refused to pay commissions to its commercial agent responsible for finding building sites and supervising their execution on the basis of the clause in the contract by which, in the event of termination of the contract during the agent’s intervention, the latter could ’in no case (...)

A principal had terminated his commercial agency contract with a company and entrusted the assignment to a former employee of the company who had set up his own structure. The company had then assigned him in payment of severance pay. In order to avoid this payment, the principal invoked the (...)

CA Dijon, Oct. 16, 2014, Laboratoires ACI c/ Lionel G., RG n° 13/00607 One sales representative contract stipulated a post-contractual non-competition clause, the financial compensation for which was set at ’one-sixth of the monthly remuneration’, and the breach was punished for each infringement (...)

The Paris Court of Appeal awarded an agent a termination indemnity after considering that the termination was not attributable to him, its decision to terminate the contract being "justified by the substantial changes in the terms of remuneration imposed by his principal" (abolition of certain (...)

The Court of Cassation points out that "regardless of the loss of his right to a termination indemnity when he has committed a serious fault, the commercial agent is liable for any fault he may have committed towards his principal".

A commercial agent who had been hired by a company competing with that of his former principal was accused by the latter of breaching the post-contractual non-competition undertaking prohibiting him from "carrying on the same professional activity for two years from the date of termination". (...)

The growth of online sales is not only accompanied by an increase in disputes between suppliers and distributors, in the field of competition law (anti-competitive practices and unfair competition) and contract law (for a recent case illustrating this second hypothesis, see in the field of (...)

The growth of online sales is accompanied by a rise in disputes between suppliers and distributors. These are frequently dealt with from the point of view of competition law: that it protects the market (law on anti-competitive practices): competition authorities consider that limitations on (...)

A company had dismissed a sales representative for serious misconduct on the grounds that he had unknowingly accepted the representation of competing products. The Court of Cassation approved the Besançon Court of Appeal for having ruled out any serious fault making it impossible for the (...)

A terminated sales representative to whom the judges had awarded a client allowance complained that the judges had not taken into account the fact that, since the claim for termination pay was necessarily included in the client allowance claim, the higher of the two allowances should be (...)

The question of indemnification of the agent feeds into the dispute over the termination of the commercial agency contract, at least in the field of the agent’s right to compensation for damage arising from the loss of the right to prospect the principal’s clientele and to profit from it (art. L. (...)

A principal who had terminated a commercial agency contract refused to compensate the agent for gross negligence in selling competing products in breach of the non-competition obligation in the contract. The agent had then summoned him to pay an indemnity for termination of contract. The Paris (...)

CA Versailles, April 9, 2014, RG n° 12/04397, Mr X. c/ Me X. After recalling the rule that "the professional expenses incurred by the employee must be borne by the employer", so that "the expenses which an employee proves to have incurred for the needs of his professional activity and in the (...)

CA Versailles, 20 March 2014, RG n° 12/06455, Villeroy et Boch Wellness c/ Agrec The principal may avoid payment of compensation due to the agent on termination of the contract by invoking the circumstances in which the status of commercial agents deprives the agent of such compensation : (...)

CA Riom, March 19, 2014, RG n° 12/02777, Frac Distribution c/ Une fleur en plus A commercial agency contract stipulated that, since the principal had acquired the card from the previous agent responsible for the distribution of products in the sector, the agent receiving the card undertook to (...)

A sales representative was claiming payment of the minimum lump-sum indemnity provided for in the 1975 interprofessional agreement from his employer in the presence of an exclusivity clause. A court of appeal had granted his claim, considering that he was "de facto subject to an exclusivity (...)

CA Bourges, March 14, 2014, RG n° 13/01121, M. S. c/ Immobilier des Ducs The question of the alternative application to the same natural person of the status of commercial agent and sales representative is less debated than that of their cumulative application. However, it is not easy to make a (...)

Does a distributor’s commitment to exclusivity of supply call in return for a benefit equivalent to the financial stake in the purchases? The issue is fuelling a developing dispute over "beer contracts", initiated by distributors who wish to change supplier and thus benefit from the advantages (...)

CA Aix-en-Provence, January 16, 2014, RG n° 12/09468 Article L. 134-11 of the Commercial Code requires the parties to a commercial agency contract of indefinite duration to observe a period of notice on termination, of one month when the contract is in its first year of performance, two months (...)

CA Grenoble, 14 January 2014, RG n° 13/04075, FProfil Direct c/ Association Œuvre des papillons blancs de Salon-de-Provence A ’service provider’ who brought an action for judicial termination of the contract (which he described as a commercial agency) between him and his ’principal’ before the (...)

The Court of Cassation agreed with a Court of Appeal that "the intuitu personae nature of the franchise agreement concluded by [the franchisee] and the necessity of the agreement of the co-contractor for its transfer by way of partial contributions of assets" justify "that[in] the absence of (...)

The Court of Cassation agrees with a court of appeal for having ruled that the fact that a commercial agent did not inform his principal of the exercise of a similar activity for the benefit of a competitor : constituted a breach of his duty of loyalty, "justifying the termination of the (...)

CA Nancy, January 7, 2014, RG no. 14/0003, CP Conseil c/ M. V. The obligation for commercial agents not to compete with their principals (art. L. 134-3 C. com.) ceases in principle at the termination of their relationship. The principal then runs the risk that the agent will continue to (...)

The Court of Cassation approved a Court of Appeal for having, in dismissing a franchisee’s application for annulment of the franchise agreement for lack of cause, held that "by communicating to the franchisee detailed information on all the products, the franchisee had acquired an exhaustive and (...)

Paris, December 4, 2013, RG n° 13/08506, Sam & Co. CA Montpellier, 5 November 2013, RG n° 12/01381, Casa Pizza France c/ Cocci Casa Appeal courts reject applications by franchisees for the invalidity of franchise agreements for : error as to the profitability of the franchise, on the (...)

Ever since the enactment of the Dutreil Act on August 2, 2005, France’s commercial practices oversight committee (the CEPC) has, each year, prepared a report on case law developments in the area of restrictive practices (Title IV of Book IV of the Commercial Code). The report is drawn up on the (...)

A Belgian principal who had terminated a commercial agency contract subject to Bulgarian law had been summoned by his Bulgarian agent before a Belgian court to pay various indemnities provided for under Belgian law. Questioned whether Bulgarian law, chosen by the parties and in conformity with (...)

The Court of Cassation approved a court of appeal for having, in rejecting the qualification of agent of common interest, noted that the broadcaster of individual houses "did not have any negotiating or representation power towards [the builder of the houses], but only acted as an intermediary (...)

Since the principal and the agent both have an "interest in the development of the business by creating and developing the clientele" (Cass. civ., 13 May 1885: DP 1885, I, p. 350; S. 1887, I, p. 220), their relations are governed by a reciprocal obligation of loyalty requiring the agent to (...)

CA Paris, 05.09.2013, Fashion Deal c/ MFG It is "as an independent profession" that a commercial agent acts in the name and on behalf of a principal (art. L. 134-1 C. com.). Unlike the sales representative (article L. 7313-4 of the Labour Code), he therefore enjoys a certain degree of autonomy (...)

A court of appeal qualifies as a commercial agent a] former employee of a company who, after his dismissal, "proposes[]and negotiates[offers, prices and tariffs, discounts, delivery times in the absence of any instructions given by the (...)

The Court of Cassation criticised the Lyon Court of Appeal for having, in rejecting a commercial agent’s claim for compensation for termination of contract, upheld his serious fault because he had "only achieved a turnover of 100,000 euros [instead of the 340,000 euros agreed] upon, which was (...)

The Court of Appeal of Bordeaux found against a principal claiming that the agent had lost his right to compensation for failure to notify him within the legal period of one year that he intended to assert his rights to compensation (art. L. 134-12 C. com.), that "the search for a settlement on (...)

Ruling on the compensation claims of a former commercial agent, the Nancy Court of Appeal sets the amount of his severance pay at six months’ commission "in view of the short duration of the contractual relationship (2 years)", and considers, with regard to compensation in lieu of notice, that (...)

Serious misconduct committed by the commercial agent, because it deprives him of his right to compensation at the end of the contract (art. L. 134-13, 1° C. com.), feeds the litigation of the termination of the agency contract. Most often, the question arises as to the characterisation of (...)

The benefit of the status of commercial agents is only granted to intermediaries who - effectively - carry out their activity in accordance with the four conditions of Article L. 134-1 of the French Commercial Code. The third (relating to the type of contract negotiated and possibly concluded (...)

Disputes over the classification of the commercial agency contract do not develop solely around the question of the agent’s power to negotiate. It extends to the case of commercial agents who are contractually qualified as such but whose actual conditions of activity place them in a situation of (...)

An Italian principal who had entrusted the exclusive distribution of his goods in Europe to a Belgian commercial agent (later substituted by a Belgian and then Luxembourg company) was summoned to pay a termination indemnity in France because the majority of the agent’s clients were in France. (...)

Cass. com, February 12, 2013, M. B. c/ Hydraulics, production systems, No. 12-12.371 The argument based on serious misconduct on the part of the agent feeds into the dispute over the termination of the commercial agent’s contract. Its outcome is often unfavourable to the principal, as evidenced (...)

Cass. 3rd civ. 19 December 2012, Agneaux c/ Go Direct, n° 11-23.541 A company had leased a hair salon space in a shopping centre. Following the relocation of all the other stores in the centre to a new shopping centre, the lessee, who had become the sole merchant in the old shopping centre, had (...)

Cass. com. 15 January 2013, No. 10-12.734 The Court of Cassation approved the Montpellier Court of Appeal for having sentenced a supplier for abrupt termination of its relationship with its exclusive distributor due to a change in the latter’s corporate officer following the sale of the entire (...)

As an agent of common interest, the agent is protected throughout and until the termination of its relationship with the principal. In this respect, the status of commercial agents is specifically regulated by the commercial agent statute : the cause of the termination of the relationship: if (...)

As an agent of common interest, the agent is protected throughout his relationship with the principal and in particular at the stage of the execution of the contract, under the ordinary law of agency and the status of commercial agents under the Commercial Code. This protection involves various (...)

The Court of Cassation criticised a court of appeal for having denied a commercial agent who did not justify the "definitive impossibility of resuming his activity" the right to severance pay, whereas it should have "investigated whether the agent]’s [state of health no longer reasonably allowed (...)

Rennes Board of Directors, February 26, 2013, Agirs v. H., RG 12/00480; Paris Board of Directors, February 28, 2013, Midi-Pyrénées Communication v. SFR, RG 11/07982; Paris Board of Directors, March 14, 2013, Mecamidi v. Etic, RG 10/13746 In a first case, the Rennes Court of Appeal stated that (...)

Cass. com, 6 November 2012, No. 11-25.481, Mrs. X. v. Atlas Publishing, No. 11-13.653. The Commercial Code refers to the circumstances in which the commercial agent is deprived of the benefit of the protective regime upon termination of his relationship with the principal, namely : serious (...)

CA Paris, 06 September 2012, Mr B. v. Bill Tornade, RG no. 10/16975 The commercial agent benefits from a protective regime throughout his relationship with the principal until its termination: he is then entitled to a notice period and to compensation for the prejudice suffered as a result of (...)

CA Aix-en-Provence, 13 June 2012, Roland Pinard AGC c/ LED 3, RG n° 10/21564 The commercial agent is protected at the various stages of his relationship with the principal: during the performance of the contract, he is entitled to the payment of commissions (Art. L. 134-5 et seq. c. com.); on (...)

Ever since the enactment of the Dutreil Act on August 2, 2005, France’s commercial practices oversight committee (the CEPC) has, each year, prepared a report for the French Government and Parliament on case law developments in the area of restrictive practices (Title IV of Book IV of the (...)

Paris Board of Directors, 07.06.12, MKM Limited v/ GPG, RG n° 11/12179; Paris Board of Directors, 05.07.12, C&I v/ Bonnemaison Distribution, Eldis, Vergely, Robert Dorleans and M. P. Donot, RG n° 10/24583; Paris Board of Directors, 05/07/12, C&I v/ Deficom, RG n° 10/20388 Litigation of (...)

Cass. com, 3 May 2012, DEB v. Jade, No. 11-17312 The compensation to which the commercial agent may be entitled as a result of the termination of his relations with the principal (art. L. 134-12 of the Code of Commerce) is not due, in particular, when the termination is caused by the (...)

Cass. com, 15 May 2012, Kriss Laure v. Mrs. X..., No. 11-18330 The commercial agent may be required not to compete with his principal after the termination of the contract (art. L. 134-14, para. 1, Com. C.). Judges check the validity of this type of undertaking in the light of the legal (...)

CA Paris, May 9, 2012, Waris Télécom and Mim Télécom v/ Orange France, RG 09/19381 The judges once again rule on the status of telephone subscription distributors; once again, they deny them the qualities of agents of common interest and, a fortiori, commercial agents (Cass. com., 15 January 2008, (...)

CA Paris, March 21, 2012, Maisons Pierre c/ Stéphane Collin e.a., RG 09/20217 Abundant litigation has developed over the reclassification of certain distribution contracts as commercial agency contracts or mandates of common interest, as evidenced by the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal of (...)

Cass. com, February 21, 2012, Distrib c/ Tôlerie du Sud-Ouest, n° 11-13395 and 11-14974 The decision of the Court of Appeal of Pau (CA Pau, 31 January 2011, RG no 08/05105, Sté Distrib v Sté Tôlerie du Sud-Ouest) and, following it, the decision of the Court of Cassation which confirms it in all (...)

Cass. com, 2 November 2011, Mr. X... c/ Befom, No. 10-22859 Cass. com, 29 November 2011, M. X... v/ France élévateurs, No. 10-25874 Cass. com, 29 November 2011, UTP c/ M. X..., No. 10-26759 The commercial agency regime (Articles L. 134-1 et seq. of the Commercial Code) is inspired by the (...)

CJUE, 13 October 2011, Pierre Fabre Dermo-cosmetics, Case C-439/09 The judgment of the Court of Justice in the Pierre Fabre case was eagerly awaited. Whereas, firstly, in the sense that it came as a result of various "assaults" against the prohibition on selected distributors to sell the (...)

Cass. com, July 12, 2011, Carrefour proximité France c/ Sodéma, n° 10-22930 The fact that a contract belongs to a contractual unit may have implications both at the stage of formation of the contract and at the stage of its performance or termination, provided that the contracts are linked by a (...)

Cass. com. 21 June 2011, X c/ SFR, No. 10-18577 The question of the qualification of the contract for the distribution of radiotelephone subscriptions is not new [Cass. com. 20 May 2008, Appeal No. 07-13488; Cass. com. 15 January 2008, Appeal No. 06-14698]. The Court of Cassation has on (...)

Cass. com, 10 May 2011, Free v Libentia, No. 10-17952 Cass. com, 24 May 2011, Seretel v. M. X..., No. 10-16969 Under the terms of Article L. 134 12 of the French Commercial Code, the right to compensation enjoyed by a commercial agent at the end of a contract arises from the sole fact of the (...)

Cass. com, 27 April 2011, Exan v. Cephalon, n° 10-14.851 A pharmaceutical laboratory had entrusted a company, through various service contracts over a period of some 30 years, with the task of visiting healthcare professionals in certain territories to promote its products. Following the (...)

Cass. com, January 18, 2011, Bedin c/ Joly, nº 09-72510 Cass. com, February 8, 2011, Lamy v. Sogelub, No. 10-12876 Articles L. 134-12 and L. 134-13 of the French Commercial Code set out the conditions for opening the right to compensation for the commercial agent at the end of the contract and (...)

CJEU, 28 October 2010, Volvo Car Germany, case C-203/09 Article 18(a) of Directive 86/653/EEC of 18 December 1986 on the coordination of the Member States relating to commercial agents provides that the indemnity or compensation to which a commercial agent is entitled at the end of his (...)

This second roundtable of the conference “Reform of vertical distribution”, Paris, 27 may 2010, is dedicated to the impact on physical retail distribution of the liberalisation of Internet distribution. The first paper goes back over the foundations of the solution adopted by the French (...)

Cass. com, June 29, 2010, Chattawak v. Chantal Pieri, No. 09-66773 A new step in a case that was thought to be over, the decision of the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation of 29 June 2010 shows how difficult it can be for the courts to grasp the affiliation commission formula. These (...)

Cass. com, 18 May 2010, Pfennig v Nade and Générali Assurances Vie, No. 09-15023 and 09-66439 CA Besançon, 10 February 2010, Bersem c/ Pequignet, RG 08/03421, JurisData n° 2010-001019 The amount of the termination indemnity due by the principal to the commercial agent is not precisely determined (...)

Regulation no. 330-2010 on April 20, 2010, OJEU of April 23, 2010 The new exemption regulation no. 330-2010 on “vertical agreements and concerted practices” was adopted by the European Commission on April 20, 2010 (OJEU of April 23), together with the related Guidelines. These new antitrust (...)

CA Paris, February 25, 2010, Prodim c/ Diapar, Francap and Groupe G 20, RG n°07/06300 Facts A franchisor in the mass retail sector had inserted in the agreement of its franchisee a non-retermination clause prohibiting him, in the event of termination, from using a "nationally or regionally (...)

CA Pau, 17 November 2009, Dieman v. Beyria, RG n°09/018185 ; Paris Board of Directors, 28 January 2010, Exan Limited v Cephalon France, RG n°07/04577 ; Versailles Board of Directors, February 11, 2010, Benhamou v. CS Régie and PM and Co, RG no. 09/00396. Several decisions recall that the (...)

Cass. com, 15 December 2009, Tentation v. Picoline and Laboratoire Labema, Appeal No. K 08-21.362 A distributor of cosmetic products had assigned in unfair competition competitors who used its catalogues and price lists to produce their own catalogues. The Lyon Court of Appeal had dismissed (...)

The organisation of network distribution means that the legal and economic independence of the distributor from the network promoter has to be reconciled with the need for consistency in terms of organisation and marketing imposed on the distributor by the network promoter. Social law, on the (...)

Cass. com, 24 November 2009, Prodim and CSF v Francap Distribution et Établissement Ségurel, appeal no. 08-21.630 After obtaining the conviction of a former franchisee for wrongful breach of its supply agreement, a franchisor had sued the promoter of a competing network on the grounds that he (...)

An undertaking whose behaviour can be qualified as anti-competitive is liable to administrative, civil and criminal sanctions. While administrative and penal sanctions (fines, injunctions, publications) have a repressive purpose, tending to punish the company guilty of an illicit practice, (...)

Board of Directors Paris, 29 October 2009, Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmétique, RG n°2008/23812 Facts A manufacturer of cosmetic products had concluded selective distribution contracts with its distributors, providing that the sale of its products had to be carried out exclusively within a physical (...)

Cass. com, 27 October 2009, Les Cuirs Saint-Denis v. Avenir Telecom (ex Diafax), No. 08-16623 CA Reims, July 21, 2009, JFL Medical c/ LDR Médical Under the terms of article L. 134-1 C. Com. the commercial agent is "permanently responsible for negotiating and, where appropriate, concluding (...)

Cass. com, 29 September 2009, Système Log v. M. Grisez, Appeal No. G08-17.611. A commercial agent whose contract had been terminated had summoned his principal to pay compensation and damages before the industrial tribunal, which declared itself incompetent more than once afterwards. The Court (...)

Cass. com, 16 September 2009, AGS v. France Achemement, appeal n°07-45.289 A franchisee had "resigned" and requested that his franchise agreement be re-characterised as an employment contract. The Court of Cassation agreed with the Court of Appeal that it had applied social law to the (...)

Cass. com, September 15, 2009, Info Immobilier v. M. Lartigue, Appeal No. 08-15.613. A court of appeal had considered that a commercial agent who, on the one hand, "has, during the last five months of the contract, only brought in one or two mandates per month instead of ten [and] has not (...)

ECJ, 10 September 2009, Akzo Nobel, Case C 97/08P. Facts Akzo nobel’s subsidiaries, which are directly or indirectly wholly owned by the parent company of the group, have participated in anti-competitive price-fixing and market-sharing agreements in the choline chloride sector. Having (...)

Article L 410-2 of the French Commercial Code states that "except in cases where the law provides otherwise, the prices of goods, products and services (...) are freely determined by competition". Consequently, competition law provides a framework for this freedom within distribution networks: (...)

Cass. com, 7 July 2009, "Corsican Cement", appeal n°H08-15.609 Facts The companies Lafarge cements (Lafarge) and Vicat were granted exclusive rights, with the possibility of subdelegation, to operate the storage and bagging infrastructure of the port of Bastia by the Chamber of Commerce and (...)

[ Cass. soc., 1 July 2009, M. Bedda v. Établissements Florest, appeal No. 08-40.605 >http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichJuriJudi.do?oldAction=rechJuriJudi&idTexte=JURITEXT000020827550&fastReqId=1560539808&fastPos=1] Facts Following his dismissal, a "salesman-delivery" employee, (...)

French Competition Authority, Decision No. 09-D-23 of 30 June 2009 on practices in the distribution of women’s ready-to-wear clothing and accessories. Article L. 420-1 of the French Commercial Code, which prohibits anti-competitive agreements, applies to the distribution contract provided that (...)

Cass. com, 9 June 2009, Perrosdis v. Distribution Casino France, appeal n°08-14.301 A franchisor had sued its former franchisee for damages for breach of the non-competition covenant entered into for a period of one year after the breach of the franchise agreement and within a radius of 30 (...)

ECJ, 4 June 2009, T-Mobile Netherlands BV and Others, Case C-8/08 Facts The Dutch Competition Authority ("NMa") has imposed fines on the five mobile phone operators present on the market at the time for infringing Article 81 of the EC Treaty and Article 6(1) of the Dutch Competition Act. In (...)

Cass. civ. 1, 4 June 2009, Medica France, appeal n°08-14.481 A service provision contract, concluded for a fixed period, provided for the accommodation of disabled adults at a reduced rate. Since the contract had been tacitly renewed, the service provider demanded payment of additional (...)

ECJ, April 23, 2009, Copad v. Christian Dior couture, Case C-59/08 Facts The owner of a prestigious trademark had entered into a trademark licensing agreement for the manufacture and distribution of lingerie products. This contract stipulated that "in order to preserve the notoriety and (...)

Competition Authority, Decision No 09-D-17 of 22 April 2009 on practices implemented by the Regional Council of the Order of Pharmacists of Lower Normandy Facts The Basse-Normandie Order of Pharmacists had sent a letter to a retirement home inviting it to obtain supplies from the pharmacies (...)

French Competition Authority, Decision No. 09-D-15 of April 2, 2009 relating to a request for precautionary measures filed by SFR concerning various practices implemented by the France Telecom Group in the mobile telephony and broadband Internet markets. Facts In the mobile telephony market, (...)

Decree No. 2009-311 of 20 March 2009 Pursuant to Article L. 450-5 of the French Commercial Code, as amended by the order of November 13, 2008, the Decree relating to "the time limits available to the Competition Authority to take the lead in the investigations requested by the Minister of the (...)

Order No. 2009-229 of 26 February 2009 adapts national law to the requirements of the European REACH regulation concerning the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemical substances, as well as the restrictions applicable to these substances. It provides for criminal penalties for (...)

Commission Communication 2009/C 45/02 on guidance on the Commission’s priorities for the application of Article 82 of the EC Treaty to abusive exclusionary conduct by dominant undertakings Notice 2009/C 45/02 sets out the European Commission’s guidance on its priorities in applying EC Treaty (...)

Under the terms of Article L. 123-29 of the French Commercial Code, derived from Article 53 of the LME Act of 4 August 2008, any person who wishes to carry on a commercial or travelling craft activity outside the territory of the municipality where his or her home or main establishment is (...)

Published in the Official Journal on February 19, 2009, the Decree on the advertising of anti-competitive practices was issued pursuant to Article L. 470-7-1 of the French Commercial Code introduced by the Order of November 13, 2008 on the modernization of competition regulation. It lays down (...)

Pursuant to Article L. 430-10 of the French Commercial Code, as amended by the Law on the Modernization of the Economy of August 4, 2008, the Decree on merger decisions to be made public was published in the Journal Officiel of February 19, 2009. It distinguishes between decisions issued by (...)

CA Paris, February 4, 2009, Apple Sales International, Apple Inc, France Telecom SA, Orange France SA v/ Bouygues Telecom SA Facts The Apple company, already at the origin of the IPod, a highly successful MP3 player, and the online music store Itunes Music Store, has launched a mobile (...)

CA Paris, January 28, 2009, Carrefour et Interdis c/ Ministère public and UFC Que Choisir, RG n° 09-000647 Facts 1st species: Following several DGCCRF inspections between 04 October 2004 and 25 August 2005, a distributor was prosecuted for reselling at a loss. Considering that the law of (...)

Facts In a dispute with an individual over the repayment of a loan, a credit company was challenging the court’s decision to reject its claim for payment of contractual interest. It argued that the provisions of Articles L. 311-8 et seq. of the Consumer Code relating to the credit agreement (...)

Cass. soc., 21 January 2009, Vaissière et fils v/ Caisse des congés payés du bâtiment de la région Languedoc-Roussillon, appeal No. 07-12.411 Facts A regional paid holiday fund for the building industry, claiming that a company specialising in the manufacture and marketing of industrial (...)

Facts The signatory of a contract entitled "mandate", which expressly excluded the application of the provisions of the Labour Code relating to the sales representative in favour of the commercial agency system, claimed before the industrial tribunal the status of exclusive sales (...)

CEPC Annual Activity Report 2008-2009 Since the Dutreil Act of 2 August 2005, the Commission d’examen des pratiques commerciales (CEPC) has been required to draw up an annual report on its activities, which is transmitted to the Government and Parliament. The first report, taking stock of civil (...)

Cass.com, 2 December 2008, Au Sol d’Or v. Clause Tezier, appeal no. 07-18.775. Facts A supplier of agricultural products, which had decided to reorganise its distribution network, had sent its distributors a proposal for a new sales organisation. As no agreement was reached between the (...)

Facts The promoter of a large distribution network had inserted in the affiliation contract it had granted to a company a non-reaffiliation clause prohibiting the latter, in the event of termination, for one year and within a radius of five kilometres, from using a "sign of national or (...)

Law No. 2008-776 of 4 August 2008 Adopted on 4 August 2008, the law on modernisation of the economy is a new step in the reform of relations between suppliers and distributors. This new reform comes three years after the Dutreil law of 2 August 2005 (which overhauled the rules applicable to (...)

The French Cour de cassation rules on Facts One supplier had given a commercial agent an exclusive mandate to represent it with customers of importers, wholesalers or retailers in a specific overseas territory. In the context of a dispute relating to the termination of their commercial (...)

Facts A wine merchant had been present for several years at the Paris Fair and made almost 45% of his annual turnover there. He had been informed by the organiser of the event, about eight months before the next edition, that wine merchants could no longer participate in order to free up space (...)

Competition Council, Decision No. 8-D-13, 11 June 2008, on practices in the routine maintenance of premises Facts An HLM office had organised a call for tenders for the cleaning of the common areas of the buildings. Two companies were accused of having agreed on the price and structure of (...)

Cass. com, 11 March 2008, Ms Dejaune v. Spécialités d’Iroise, Appeal No. 07-10.590 Facts A commercial agent had served formal notice on his principal to comply with his contractual obligations, failing which the contract would be terminated within two weeks, without prejudice to his rights to (...)

Report by Mrs Hagelsteen to the Minister of the Economy, 12 February 2008 The report recognises the possibility nowadays offered to economic actors to negotiate the general terms and conditions of sale, still "the basis of commercial negotiation", which the law requires suppliers to (...)

Soc. case, 16 January 2008, HCGMVP v. Simoes, appeal No. 07-40.055 Facts A company which operated hotels under a franchise agreement had entrusted the co-managers of another company with the management of hotels in its name and on its behalf. The co-managers argued that they were in a (...)

The Chatel law, promulgated on 3 January 2008, is presented by its author as the first part of an umpteenth reform of the rules of trade negotiation. It includes two major provisions: the lowering of the threshold for resale at a loss to "three times net", allowing the deduction of the (...)

Law n°2008-3, 3 January 2008 1. The law n° 2008-3 of January 3, 2008 for the "development of competition at the service of consumers" is a continuation of the law of August 2, 2005 which was already pursuing a long sequence of reforms. 2. The law of 2 August 2005 had attempted to lower the (...)

CA Paris, November 28, 2007, SA L’Oréal c/ Paris parfums cosmetics PPC Facts A supplier of cosmetic products, who claimed to be the "head" of a selective distribution network, criticized an unauthorized distributor for marketing its brand of skin care products. He had therefore sued this (...)

Tribunal de grande instance d’Evry, 26 June 2007, Ministère public c/ Carrefour Two SEO centres of a supermarket chain were prosecuted first for concluding commercial cooperation agreements which did not specify the content of the services rendered to their suppliers under the cooperation (...)

ECDC, Opinion No 07-04, 14 June 2007, concerning certain practices applied to a group of retail pharmacists by laboratories manufacturing cosmetic products and/or proprietary medicinal products. A group of dispensing pharmacists asked the ECDC for its opinion on pricing practices implemented (...)

CA d’Angers, 29 May 2007, S.A. FINAMO v/ Minister of the Economy, aff. n° 06/00563 Facts One distributor had entered into commercial cooperation agreements with its suppliers for "promotion [and volume and sales development services".] Taking the view that the remuneration paid by the (...)

Cons. conc., Procedural Notice of 17 April 2007 revising the French leniency programme The Competition Council published on 17 April 2007 a revised leniency programme to bring it into line with the European Model Programme of 29 September 2006. The contributions of the new Procedural Notice (...)

Cass. com, 6 March 2007, Garage de Bretagne v. Daimler Chrysler France, Appeal No. 05-13.991 Facts A car licensor, reorganising its entire network since 2000, had notified one of its exclusive dealers of the termination of its contract by giving one year’s short notice in 2002, due to the (...)

DGCCRF report Report from the Faculty of Montpellier 2005-2006 Review of Restrictive Practices Decisions: What lessons can be learned from the reports submitted to the ECDC? Pursuant to the Dutreil Act of 2 August 2005, the Commission d’examen des pratiques commerciales (CEPC) is now required (...)

Competition Council, Decision No. 07-D-05, February 21, 2007, Union française des orthoprothésistes (UFOP) Facts A group of companies regularly communicated to its members "recommended" rates for their services (communication of a calculation method and the hourly price of labour). It had also (...)

CA Versailles, 8 February 2007, Eurotech v/ Eagle Picher Wolveruine GmBH, RG n°05/07851 Facts A company marketing components for the automotive industry had signed a contract with another company entitled "agency agreement". After fourteen years of collaboration, the principal company gave (...)

Cass. com, 23 January 2007, X v. LDC France, Appeal No. 05-10.264 Facts A sales agent in charge of a geographical area in the north of France and whose contract was terminated summoned his former principal in order to obtain payment of various sums. In particular, he demanded the payment of (...)

CA Nîmes, 13 December 2006, Fesquet v Ripert and others, RG n°06/00280 Facts A former franchisee has brought his former franchisor before the industrial tribunal following the breach of his contract. He considered that the franchise agreement should be subject to labour law and claimed payment (...)

Competition Council, Decision No. 06-D-37, 7 December 2006, Cycle and cycle product distribution sector The Competition Council has condemned twenty-two companies for a total of EUR 580,000 for having implemented anti-competitive agreements and inserted anti-competitive clauses in their (...)

Criminal Case, 6 December 2006, SCA Centre, Appeal No. 06-82.834. Facts During 2001 and 2002, one distributor had concluded a commercial cooperation contract with its suppliers whereby it undertook "to ensure the presence of the supplier’s products in the regional assortment suitable for (...)

ECJ, 7 September 2006, VW-Audi Forhandlerforeningen v/°Skandinavisk Motor Co. A/S, Case C-125/05 Facts A car manufacturer had terminated the distribution contract of one of its dealers, not with the normal two-year notice period, but with one year’s notice. It justified this reduced notice (...)

Facts Candia, a subsidiary of Sodiaal, wishes to acquire exclusive control of Société Orlait following a three-year start-up period, during which the gradual disposal of the first three branches of shares of Orlait will lead to the exercise of joint control. This transaction, which constitutes (...)

ECJ, 13 July 2006, Commission v Volkswagen, Case C-74/04, Facts In 2001, the car manufacturer Volkswagen was fined by the European Commission for implementing an anti-competitive cartel with its dealers. It was accused of fixing the selling prices of one of its models by requiring its (...)

DGCCRF activity report for 2006 The DGCCRF’s activity report for 2006 provides very interesting information of a statistical and strategic nature for companies. It will first be noted that a major change has taken place in the organisation of this administration with the increased role of its (...)

CFRB Annual Report for 2005 The DGCCRF made public its activity report for 2005. This report shows that the regional directorates are strongly mobilized to monitor commercial cooperation contracts. The report is available on the DGCCRF’s website at (...)

Decree No. 2006-513 of 4 May 2006 In order to increase the effectiveness of criminal proceedings for breaches of the rules governing commercial relations, the Act of 2 August 2005 in favour of SMEs introduced a new Article L.°470-4-1 into the Commercial Code relating to criminal transactions. (...)

The so-called "Dutreil" French Law dated 2 August 2005 and its notice/circular dated 8 December 2005 have substantially changed the relationships between producers and distributors. These 5 contributions, including counsels, in house lawyers points of view and an article from an official from (...)

Competition Council, Decision No. 06-D-09, April 11, 2006, Door Manufacturing Sector The leniency procedure aims to improve the effectiveness of the prosecution of anti-competitive cartel infringements by encouraging the parties to such cartels to denounce their practices. Inspired by the US (...)

ECJ, 16 March 2006, Poseidon Chartering BV v Marianne Zeeschip VOF, Albert Mooij, Sjoerdtje Sijswerda, and Gerrit Schram, Case C-3/04. Facts A company acted as an intermediary in connection with a ship charter agreement, which was extended annually from 1994 to 2000, following annual (...)

Press release n° IP/06/302 Press release n° IP/06/303 As the Block Exemption Regulation applicable to the motor vehicle sector has reinforced multi-branding, dealer associations have lodged complaints with the European Commission because of provisions in the General Motors (GM) and BMW (...)

Competition Council, Decision No. 06-D-04, March 13, 2006, Sociétés Parfums Facts Several companies operating luxury perfume and cosmetics brands, as well as national retail chains, were being sued for anti-competitive consumer price fixing. Suppliers were accused of imposing "indicative public (...)

Competition Council, Decision No. 06-D-03, March 9, 2006, Heating, Plumbing, Sanitary and Air-Conditioning Sector In a decision of 9 March 2006, the Competition Council imposed sanctions on sixty-nine companies specialising in the trade or manufacture of heating appliances, sanitary ceramics (...)

CA Paris, March 1, 2006, Corroler automobile, n° 03/16268 Facts Following a succession of fixed-term contracts, Corroler Automobile entered into an open-ended dealership contract with General Motors France in 1997. In 2001, General Motors terminates this commitment by giving the contractually (...)

CA Paris, 31 January 2006, Nouvelles Messageries de la Presse Parisienne v/ Messageries Lyonnaises de Presse Facts Taking the view that the Nouvelles Messageries de la Presse Parisienne (NMPP) was abusing its dominant position on the market for the distribution of newspapers by the number, (...)

Cass. com, January 17, 2006, Syndicat des professionnels européens de l’automobile v. Société Automobile Peugeot, Appeal No. 04-19.092 Facts The European Automobile Trades Union (SPEA) criticised the car manufacturer PSA for having implemented measures with the object or effect of limiting (...)

CA Paris, January 11, 2006, Ford France Automobiles, n° 03/15259 Facts In 1985, Ford France Automobiles entrusted a dealer with the marketing of Ford vehicles in two exclusive sales territories. Following the entry into force of European Regulation No 1475/95 of 28 June 1995, Ford France (...)

Decree No. 2005-1756 of 30 December 2005 laying down the list and the jurisdiction of special courts in competition matters, industrial property and the difficulties of enterprises, OJ 31 December 2005 Article L. 420-7 of the French Commercial Code, as amended by Order No. 2004-1173 of 4 (...)

Cass. com, 13 December 2005, Garage Loustaunau v. Lavillauroy, Appeal No. 03-16878 Facts A dealer-agent was bound to a Volkswagen dealer by a contract concluded intuitu personae, which also contained a clause prohibiting any assignment or transfer in whole or in part without the dealer’s (...)

Circular of 8 December 2005 The circular implementing Title VI of the Act in favour of small and medium-sized enterprises was eagerly awaited. The Act raises many questions about its application. In order to answer these questions, Renaud Dutreil, Minister for SMEs, submitted a draft circular (...)

Cass. com, 6 December 2005, Société des caves et des producteurs réunis du Roquefort v. Minister of the Economy, appeal No. 04-19.541 Facts Between 1995 and 1997, the Société des caves et des producteurs réunis du Roquefort (Société group) entered into commercial agreements providing for the (...)

Tribunal de grande instance de Strasbourg, 25 November 2005, Ministre de l’Economie c/ Lidl The DGCCRF found that when one of its warehouses was opened, the hard discount distributor Lidl had obtained payment of almost 480,000 euros from seventy-three suppliers under alleged commercial (...)

The "location clauses" contained in motor vehicle distribution contracts are no longer automatically exempted from 1 October 2005 under Regulation 1400/2002. These clauses aim to prevent car dealers from setting up sales outlets outside the geographical areas defined by the manufacturers. The (...)

Facts Consumers have complained to the European Commission about certain practices of companies in the Daimler-Benz AG group. They were accused of to impede the export of new Mercedes-Benz motor vehicles to various Member States. The Commission found that there was an anti-competitive cartel (...)

Law No. 2005-882 of 2 August 2005 Law No. 2005-882 of 2 August 2005 in favour of SMEs created in articles L. 146-1 et seq. C. com. a status of manager-agent applicable to natural or legal persons who manage a business or craft business in the name and on behalf of the owner, in return for a (...)

Cass. com, June 28, 2005, Garage Gremeau v. Daimler Chrysler France Facts Daimler Chrysler France has reorganised its distribution network, opting for a quantitative selective distribution system. Beforehand, it had terminated the contract between it and one of its dealers, Garage Gremeau. (...)

Competition Council, Decision No. 05-D-12, 17 March 2005, EUROPQN Facts The companies 20 Minutes France and Publications Métro France, publishers of free daily general information newspapers financed exclusively by advertising, have lodged a complaint with the French Competition Council (...)

Speech by D. Ferré, Colloque Petites Affiches, 22 March 2005 The framework for commercial cooperation is one of the major objectives of the reform of the Galland Act undertaken by the Government. With the reform of the method for calculating the threshold for resale at a loss, the Government (...)

CA de Versailles, February 24, 2005, Daimler Chrysler France v/ Garage de Bretagne Facts SA Garage de Bretagne was linked to Daimler Chrysler France by an exclusive concession contract. That contract stipulated, in accordance with the Community Regulation, that No 1475/95 of 28 June 1995, (...)

CA Paris, January 26, 2005, Bellevue Auto et Consorts Petit v/ Groupe Volkswagen France and Volkswagen AG Facts Volkswagen Group France, a motor vehicle importer and subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, had entered into exclusive dealership agreements with Bellevue Auto, a company based in the border (...)

Report of the Competition Council for 2004 One of the issues addressed in the Competition Council’s 2004 activity report relates to the effects of discounts, rebates and rebates on competition. As the Council has noted in the cases it has dealt with, the implementation of price reductions may (...)

Canivet Report of October 18, 2004 Following the commitment made on 17 June 2004, the Minister for the Economy, Mr Nicolas SARKOZY, appointed a Commission chaired by Mr Guy CANIVET to consider a new legislative and regulatory framework organising relations between suppliers and distributors. (...)

Facts A car dealer wanted to sell his business. The licensor’s approval was required. The latter induced a potential buyer to obtain a substantial reduction in the sale price from the dealer. He also invited him to take an interest in taking over another dealership. The dealer, however, (...)

CA Paris, 29 juin 2004 statuant sur la décision n° 03-D-68 du Conseil de la concurrence, Conseil national des Profession de l’Automobile (CNPA) c/ Syndicat des Professionnels européens de l’Automobile (SPEA) Faits Le CNPA 57 souhaitant lutter contre des intermédiaires mandatés par des consommateurs (...)

Regulation No. 772/2004 of 27 April 2004 on the block exemption of technology transfer agreements entered into force on 1 May 2004, repealing in advance the previous regulation which was due to expire on 31 March 2006. This new text is in line with the modernization of the Community (...)

Faits La société Go Sport, distributeur d’articles de sport, a saisi le Conseil de la concurrence de pratiques d’abus de position dominante et d’entente. En ce qui concerne l’abus de position dominante, la société Go Sport reproche à la société Décathlon, son principal concurrent, d’avoir abusé de sa (...)

CA Dijon, 1 April 2004, Garage Gremeau v Daimler Chrysler France, No. 03/01547 Facts In all three cases, a car dealer, whose contract had been terminated under Regulation 1475/95, wanted to join the network set up by its former supplier under Regulation 1400/2002: First case: The manufacturer (...)

Faits Le matériel nécessaire au déroulement et à la collecte des réponses de l’examen du permis de conduire ne donnant plus satisfaction, la direction de la sécurité et de la circulation routière du ministère des transports a lancé une procédure d’appel d’offre, à l’issue de laquelle la société Codes (...)

Article 25 of Order 2004-274 of 25 March 2004(1) provides that "In the third paragraph of Article L. 420-2 of the French Commercial Code, the words "15 million euros" are replaced by the words "50 million euros". This order modifies the national threshold for the control of a concentration. (...)

Article 24 of Order No 2004-274 (1 ) introduces into French law a mechanism establishing sensitivity thresholds for an anti-competitive cartel comparable to that instigated by the European Commission in the ’de minimis’ notice (2 ). This mechanism complements the dismissal mechanism referred to (...)

Faits La réduction du temps de travail aux trente-cinq heures ayant entraîné une augmentation des charges professionnelles supportées par les boulangers, le président de la Fédération départementale de la boulangerie de la Marne a alors incité, lors d’une assemblée générale le 23 avril 2001 les (...)