Agents’ Entitlement to Commission in respect of Repeat Transactions (Rigall Arteria Management v Bank Handlowy w Warszawie, Opinion of Advocate General Ćapeta of the European Court of Justice)

Article summary

Commercial analysis: Article 7(1) of Council Directive 86/653/EEC provides: ‘A commercial agent shall be entitled to commission on commercial transactions concluded during the period covered by the agency contract: (a) where the transaction has been concluded as a result of his action; or (b) where the transaction is concluded with a third party whom he has previously acquired as a customer for transactions of the same kind’. Advocate General (AG) Ćapeta considered that Article 7(1)(b) is a non-mandatory rule. It 'serve[s] as an aid in drafting the contract, indicating possible solutions as to how the parties may resolve certain issues' and 'offer[s] the parties a list of choices while not precluding others'. Consequently, the parties may choose whether to include, exclude or modify the right under Article 7(1)(b) of Council Directive 86/653/EEC. In due course, the Court of Justice will hand down its judgment...