This book provides a wide-ranging review of the European rules relating to distribution: exclusive purchase and exclusive supply, exclusive and selective distribution, motor vehicle distribution, franchises, commercial agents.

French Distribution Law

The vertical restraints regulation  applies where trade between Member States is affected  and the agreement in question only binds two undertakings . It targets exclusive purchasing only indirectly through the “non-compete obligation”, which it defines as “any direct or indirect obligation causing the buyer not to manufacture,  purchase, sell or resell goods or services which compete with the  co …

Block exemption regulation.

The vertical restraints regulation  applies where trade between Member States is affected  and the agreement in question only binds two undertakings . It targets exclusive purchasing only indirectly through the “non-compete obligation”, which it defines as “any direct or indirect obligation causing the buyer not to manufacture,  purchase, sell or resell goods or services which compete with the  contract goods or services, or any direct or indirect obligation on the  buyer to purchase from the supplier or from another undertaking  designated by the supplier more than 80% of the buyer's total purchases  of the contract goods or services and their substitutes on the relevant  market [...]” . Therefore, the regulation does not apply when it has not been established that the party in question makes more than 80% of his purchases from the same supplier .

Exemption is granted where the market share is below the dual threshold of 30% , but exclusive purchase is exempted only on condition that it is limited to five years . Where the length of the exclusivity obligation exceeds that fixed by the regulation, it must be reduced . An agreement which does not comply with the regulation is not necessarily null and void where it has not been established that it has a restrictive object or effect .

Regulation No 2022/720 of 10 May 2022, OJEU L 134 of 11 May 2022, 4.

Cass. com., 4 June 1996, LawLex200200003793JBJ: an exclusive purchase agreement in which only undertakings of the same Member State take part and which covers the resale of goods within that Member State, must affect trade between Member States to come under the scope of the Block Exemption Regulation; TGI Strasbourg, 28 February 2008, LawLex200800000345JBJ: exclusive purchase agreements concluded on a national market may nevertheless affect trade between Member States and come under the Regulation on Vertical Restraints; CA Paris, 17 May 2018, LawLex201800000773JBJ, lack of effect of trade between Member States and consequently the applicability of Regulation No 330/2010 to an agreement  between two SMEs expecting the realization of a total turnover of EUR 700,000.

CA Rouen, 27 May 1999, LawLex200200005218JBJ: since the block exemption applies to bipartite agreements of not more than five years, an exclusive purchase agreement concluded between a distributor, a brewer and a warehouse-keeper, for a term of seven years, cannot benefit therefrom.

Regulation No 2022/720 of 10 May 2022, Art. 1(1)(f).

CA Pau, 28 June 2019, LawLex201900000913JBJ.

For an application, CA Nancy, 25 May 2016, LawLex201600001049JBJ; cf. for decisions rendered under Regulation No 2790/1999: CA Versailles, 18 January 2007, LawLex200900002654JBJ: an exclusive purchase agreement concluded by a supplier holding a market share greater than 30% cannot benefit from block exemption. See also TGI Strasbourg, 28 February 2008, LawLex200800000345JBJ; CA Colmar, 1 April 2008, LawLex200800001827JBJ, which excludes from exemption a beer agreement which imposes on an off-license manager to purchase 100% of his needs from the same supplier, regardless of the supplier's market share; cf. CA Colmar, 25 May 2016, LawLex201600001050JBJ, holding that the brewer who imposes an exclusive supply obligation only with regard to beers in barrels, relating to approximately 2/3 of beer sales, does not commit abuse of rights. See also CA Reims, 19 March 2019, LawLex201900000383JBJ, stating that the burden of proof of exceeding the 30% market share is on the distributor seeking to rely on it.

See, inter alia, CA Colmar, 11 September 2007, LawLex200700001431JBJ, which states that a non-compete clause contained in an exclusive purchase agreement is covered by the Regulation on Vertical Restraints if, as at 1 January 2002, the remaining duration of the agreement is less than five years; Cass. com., 24 November 2009, LawLex200900003557JBJ: holding that the exemption cannot be refused without checking the supplier's market share, for an exclusive beer purchasing agreement simply because it contains a non-compete clause, while the duration of the contract is under five years; CA Paris, 4 May 2016, LawLex201600000889JBJ.

CA Aix-en-Provence, 15 November 2012, LawLex201200002371JBJ.

See, inter alia, Cass. com., 3 December 2003, LawLex200400000434JBJ; TGI Strasbourg, 3 February 2005, LawLex200500005681JBJ; CA Versailles, 18 January 2007, LawLex200900002654JBJ; CA Colmar, 1 June 2010, LawLex201100000157JBJ.

French Distribution Law

22. Block exemption regulation.

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

22. Block exemption regulation.

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise