IUCAB Legal Working Group meets at Hilton Luton Airport
On 26th November 2014, the Members of the IUCAB Legal Working Group (LWG) came together for a meeting at Luton Airport in the United Kingdom. The meeting was combined with the Annual Conference of IUCAB Member Association MAA (The Manufacturers’ Agents’ Association of Great Britain & Ireland Incorporated). UK commercial agents were given the opportunity to ask the IUCAB lawyers advice about their international businesses.
Following items have been discussed:
National approach regarding distribution law
The Northern- and Western parts of Europe combine the role of agent and distributor which is in contradiction to Southern Europe (for instance: France, Italy) where members solely operate as agents. The distributor is not protected by law in most EU Member States.
Refit Program
Associations have to wait for further information after they have sent out the questionnaire. The opinion of most European Governments is not known.
Germany and The Netherlands support a status quo whereas the United Kingdom Government suggests repealing the Agency Directive. The LWG will try to retrieve the UK Consultation Report.
Case law
Mr. Edward Miller informed the meeting about the case: Fern Computer Consultancy Ltd. v. Intergraph Cadworx & Analysis Solutions Inc. Three interesting topics have been discussed:
- Jurisdiction of English Court in claim for termination payment where Texan law and jurisdiction is expressly chosen;
- applicability of the UK agency regulations to the sale of software;
- whether a license constitutes a sale under the regulations.
Italian Collective Agreement
Mr. Carlo Tabellini informed the meeting about a collective agreement between the industrial and commercial associations on the one hand and agency associations on the other. The objective of this agreement is to standardise the way of calculating the indemnity.
The next IUCAB LWG meeting will be held in Valencia on 17th April 2015.
