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

Pursuant to the principle of contractual freedom, each party may put an end to an indefinite-term contract at any time without having to justify the grounds for such termination where a reasonable notice period is observed . When a period of notice is provided for in the contract, it must be honored, failing which the head of the network may be held liable . On the other hand, if the head of the n …

Notice period.

Pursuant to the principle of contractual freedom, each party may put an end to an indefinite-term contract at any time without having to justify the grounds for such termination where a reasonable notice period is observed . When a period of notice is provided for in the contract, it must be honored, failing which the head of the network may be held liable . On the other hand, if the head of the network complies with the contractual period of notice, it may unilaterally decide to terminate an open-ended contract without cause . Furthermore, a manufacturer reorganizing its network is also entitled to terminate its selective distribution contracts as long as it has complied with a notice period in line with the norms in the trade , but that notice period must comply with the reasonable notice period requirements pursuant to Article L. 442-1, II of the Commercial Code.

The reasonable notice period must take into account the length of the relationship, the volume of business, and also the activity sector concerned  and the fact that the products carry the distributor's own brand . The supplier is in breach of his obligations where a notice of two and a half months is given for a relationship having lasted more than ten years where the distributor was led to believe that a new contract would be forthcoming . Where notice has been given it must be performed in conditions which, if not identical, are at least similar to those enjoyed prior to the termination. Nevertheless, an authorized distributor is precluded from claiming that the manufacturer has failed to comply with the notice obligation by refusing to deliver orders placed where the contract stipulates that the manufacturing deadlines for the products in question, which are not standardized, can be very long and that the supply cycles in the notice period are not found to be less frequent than those observed during the performance of the contract . This is the case where a distributor has sold non-authentic products or refused to ensure the after-sales service in breach of its contractual obligations . However, the termination is sudden when it purports to sanction an incident which, at the time of its occurrence, gave rise only to a call to order for the future and the contract was subsequently renewed .

Where there are joint and several debtors, the letter of termination must be sent to each of them on an individual basis .

CA Paris, 21 January 1993, LawLex200200005969JBJ; 1 March 2017, LawLex201700000416JBJ and LawLex201700000417JBJ.

CA Paris, 19 January 2021, LawLex202100000237JBJ.

CA Paris, 30 June 2000, LawLex200200005314JBJ.

See CA Paris, 6 March 2003, LawLex200300002265JBJ, which ruled that six months' notice is reasonable.

T. com. Cannes, 5 September 1996, LawLex200200004728JBJ; T. com. Paris, 2 April 1999, LawLex200200000148JBJ (law on commercial negotiation): a four-month notice period is insufficient where the production cycle spreads on a six-month period; T. com. Paris, 25 September 2008, LawLex200800001934JBJ: A supplier cannot terminate a relationship having lasted more than ten years by only giving the distributor a notice period of two months and a half although it maintained the distributor in the illusion of the signature of a new contract.

CA Amiens, 30 November 2001, LawLex200200000025JBJ (in the case of a distributor's own brand, the notice period to be complied with is twice the normal notice period); CA Paris, 11 April 2002, LawLex200200000002JBJ: an established commercial relationship relating to advertising operations prepared several months in advance cannot be terminated without notice period given in due time; Cass. com., 12 March 2002, LawLex200200000039JBJ: the fact for an undertaking to give a notice period for termination of fifteen days to a contracting party with whom it has been bound for more than twenty years is an obviously unlawful disturbance.

CA Paris, 23 March 2011, LawLex201100000780JBJ: luxury goods sector.  

T. com. Paris, 25 September 2008, LawLex200800001934JBJ.

T. com. Paris, 29 June 2016, LawLex201800000605JBJ.

CA Angers, 31 January 2006, LawLex200600002467JBJ.

CA Paris, 10 April 2013, LawLex201300000696JBJ.

French Distribution Law

230. Notice period.

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

230. Notice period.

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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