19 Jun 2016
Territorial jurisdiction over disputes regarding agency contract termination at the European level
In its decision dated 6 October 2015 (Nr 13-18704), the French Supreme court restated the underlying criteria to determine which court has territorial jurisdiction over a dispute related to termination of a commercial agency contract:
"The court having jurisdiction to deal with claims arising from a commercial agency contract is the court in the jurisdiction of which the agent is to deliver most of its services as provided for in the contract or, in the absence of any such provision regarding the place of service delivery, the place of actual contract performance or, if no specific location can be identified based on these two criteria, the place where the agent is domiciled."
The ground for this decision is Article 5-1 b) of EC Regulation Nr 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, also known as "Brussels I Regulation".
In this respect, it is worth recalling that Regulation Nr 1215/2012 of 12 December 2012 ("Brussels I bis Regulation") supersedes above Regulation Nr 44/2001 as from 10 January 2015. Nevertheless, the stance expressed in the Supreme court's decision of 6 October 2015 will probably continue to prevail since the wording of Article 5-1 b) has remained unchanged.
In its spirit, the Supreme court's position is meant to apply not only to claims regarding termination compensation, but also to any claim related to the contract.
Nasser Merabet
Attorney at law
avocat@nmerabet.fr