IUCAB Legal Working Group meets in Copenhagen
Members of the Legal Working Group (LWG) of IUCAB assembled in Copenhagen on 18th November 2013 at the offices of MAQS Law Firm.
The meeting was attended by:
1. Mr. Larry Coltman, MAA Legal Advisor
2. Mr. Edward Miller, MAA Legal Advisor
3. Mrs. Patricia Keltner, APAC Legal Advisor
4. Mr. Michael Svendsen, Legal Advisor of the Nordic Federation
5. Mr. Carlo Tabellini, USARCI Legal Advisor
6. Mr. Henrik Renner Fredriksen, Virka Legal Advisor
7. Mr. Gael Grignon du Moulin, FNAC Legal Advisor
8. Mr. Paul Holtrop, VNT Legal Advisor and IUCAB Interim Secretary General
The following items of the agenda were dealt with and given a follow up:
- The LWG had a discussion trying to define what the challenges are that agents face with e-commerce and the many difficult legal questions that arise. LWG defined 6 questions that were given to the individual Members of the LWG to consider before the next LWG meeting in 2014. Objective will be to prepare a Fact Sheet which will be put on the IUCAB Website in a later stadium.
- It was brought to the attention of LWG that The European Commission has produced a communication regarding Regulatory Fitness and Performance (REFIT). In an annex to the mentioned document it is stated that, among many other regulations, the Commission plans to assess the potential for simplification and the reduction of regulatory costs and burdens with regards to Directive 86/653 on commercial agents. LWG will monitor the developments.
- A central point on the agenda at every LWG meeting is to discuss new legislation and new case-law relevant to IUCAB.
- Mr. Grignon Dumoulin presented an interesting new case (Unamar vs. NMB) from the European Court of Justice (preliminary ruling) of October 17th, 2013 regarding choice of law. LWG will communicate the outcome.
Furthermore it was brought to the attention of the LWG by Mr. Michael Svendsen and Mr. Henrik Renner Fredriksen that the Court of Appeal in Norway in a recent ruling has applied Article 28 in the Norwegian Agency Act (the indemnity rule) on an exclusive distributor (KCL). As the ruling has been appealed to the Norwegian Supreme Court, the LWG did not enter into any lengthy discussions. Mr. Svendsen and Mr. Renner Fredriksen will report on the matter when the Supreme Court has ruled in the matter.
The next meeting of the LWG shall take place in April 2014 in Rome, Italy.
