LEGAL WORKING GROUP MEETS IN COPENHAGEN

by Secretary-general Mr. J.W.B. Baron van Till:

The Members of the IUCAB Legal Working Group met in Copenhagen on 26 November 2007 at the offices of the Secretary-General of the Nordic Federation, Mr. Michael Svendsen.

Final drafts were prepared for the IUCAB Fact Sheets on the indemnity- and compensation system under Art. 17 of Council Directive 86/653/EEC on the coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents. A special report was submitted by Mrs. Patricia Keltner of APAC on the situation in Poland. Publication of this new set of IUCAB Fact Sheets is scheduled for early 2008.

A Working Committee was established for the purpose of making an analysis of possible conflicting legal interests between commercial agents and distributors. The work of this Working Committee will be done with a view to assisting the IUCAB Vision Group.

Elaborate discussions took place on the so-called CFR-Project which has been revived by the European Commission. A conference has taken place in September 2007 in Trier on which occasion discussions were held on the Common Frame of Reference (to be delivered in the form of principles) on the non-consumer related Contract Laws including commercial agency-, franchising- and distribution law. The draft CFR-principles have been presented and it was agreed that the Members of the Legal Working Group will prepare opinion papers on the contents of these draft CFR-principles to be submitted later on to the European Commission.