International Agency & Distribution Handbook & Distribution Agency International International Agency & Distribution Handbook EMEA International Agency and Distribution Handbook EMEA 2018 ©2018 Baker & McKenzie LLP 2018 All rights reserved. This publication is protected by copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study or research permitted under applicable copyright legislation, no part may be reproduced or transmitted by any process or means without the prior permission of Baker & McKenzie LLP. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER. The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only. It is not offered as advice on any particular matter and should not be taken as such. Baker & McKenzie LLP, the editors and the contributing authors disclaim all liability to any person in respect of the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done wholly or partly in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this publication. No person, whether a client of Baker & McKenzie LLP or otherwise, should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any statement contained in this publication without taking specific professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances in issue. Baker & McKenzie International is a global law firm with member law firms around the world. In accordance with the common terminology used in professional service organizations, reference to a “partner” means a person who is a partner or equivalent in such a law firm. Similarly, reference to an “office” means an office of any such law firm. This may qualify as “Attorney Advertising” requiring notice in some jurisdictions. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. International Agency and Distribution Handbook Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................... 1 Contributors .......................................................................................... 5 EU Competition Law ........................................................................... 10 Compliance, Anti-Corruption and Export Controls ............................. 30 Austria ................................................................................................. 39 Belgium ............................................................................................... 53 Bulgaria ............................................................................................... 75 Cyprus ................................................................................................ 90 Czech Republic ................................................................................. 107 Denmark ........................................................................................... 117 Egypt ................................................................................................. 129 Estonia .............................................................................................. 144 Finland .............................................................................................. 159 France ............................................................................................... 174 Germany ........................................................................................... 193 Greece .............................................................................................. 211 Hungary ............................................................................................ 231 Ireland ............................................................................................... 246 Italy ................................................................................................... 263 Kazakhstan ....................................................................................... 300 Latvia ................................................................................................ 310 Lithuania ........................................................................................... 323 Luxembourg ...................................................................................... 338 Malta ................................................................................................. 351 Morocco ............................................................................................ 369 Netherlands ...................................................................................... 377 Baker McKenzie | i Norway .............................................................................................. 390 Poland ............................................................................................... 401 Portugal ............................................................................................ 415 Romania ........................................................................................... 428 Russian Federation........................................................................... 440 Saudi Arabia ..................................................................................... 466 Slovakia ............................................................................................ 473 Slovenia ............................................................................................ 483 South Africa ...................................................................................... 497 Spain ................................................................................................. 519 Sweden ............................................................................................. 539 Switzerland ....................................................................................... 555 Turkey ............................................................................................... 572 Ukraine ............................................................................................. 588 United Arab Emirates........................................................................ 612 United Kingdom ................................................................................ 624 Baker McKenzie Offices Worldwide ................................................. 646 ii | Baker McKenzie International Agency and Distribution Handbook Introduction This is the 6th edition of the Agency and Distribution Handbook covering 39 countries in the EMEA region with chapters on each of the 28 European Union member states, two European Economic Area countries (Norway and Switzerland) and chapters from further afield, Introduction including countries such as Egypt, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia. To make for easier reading and comparison, each chapter follows the same structure and approach. The 1986 EU Agency Directive (Council Directive 86/653/EEC) has applied for a number of years and has been implemented by all the EU member states. The directive has created a common body of protection for agents, although variations still exist as the directive is a minimum harmonisation instrument and, at the time the directive was introduced, many member states had existing laws that were comparable with, and in some cases more protective than, the provisions of the directive and these were largely preserved. For example, the directive includes certain protections for an agent dealing with the sale or purchase of goods, but many member states extend their rules to also protect agents dealing with the sale or purchase of services. One important principle currently applicable to international agency agreements, derived from the Ingmar1 EU Court of Justice judgment of 9 November 2000, refers to the choice of non-EU governing law. In particular, the principle sets out that a choice of non-EU governing law will not entitle a principal to evade liabilities under the directive, notably those entitling the agent to compensation or an indemnity payment on termination. In other words, the directive will guarantee certain mandatory rights to commercial agents in the EU, although the principal is established in a non-EU member country and a term of the agreement expressly stipulates that the contract is to be governed by the law of that non-EU country. 1 Ingmar GB Ltd v. Eaton Leonard Technologies Inc Case C-381/98. Baker McKenzie | 1 A more recent case, the EU Court of Justice judgment in Unamar2 of 17 October 2013, concerned the effectiveness of the choice of EU law in an agency agreement. In this case, the agent and principal were established in different EU member states, which had both implemented the Agency Directive. The agreement between the parties used the governing law of the member state where the principal was established. Subsequently, the agent argued that it was entitled to the protection provided by the “mandatory rules” of the agency law of the EU member state where the agent operated. The court held that where both member states have implemented the directive, it will be for the court of the forum to establish if the laws protecting agents in that country are “mandatory rules” and supersede the choice of law in an agreement. As for the position of distributors, apart from Belgium, no country in the European Union has equivalent specific legislation protecting distributors. However, there has been an increasing trend in some EU member states where courts have started to establish protections for distributors that are influenced by and analogous to those set out in the Agency Directive. The EU Competition Law chapter of this handbook gives the reader