Calificarea distributivă versus calificarea unitară şi autorizaţia de negociere în cazul contractelor de agenţie comercială
The distributive classification versus the homogeneous classification and the negotiating authorisation in the field of commercial agency contracts

Summary/Abstract: The question of establishing the impact of a distributive classification in the field of commercial agency contracts has been recently approached in the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 4 June 2020, in the case C 828/18, Trendsetteuse SARL versus DCA SARL. In its judgement of 4 June 2020, the CJEU refused to subject the classification of commercial agency contracts to the requirement that the agent dispose of negotiating powers regarding the modification of the price for the transactions the conclusion of which is attributable to the agent on the principal’s account, which implies that the Court condemned a restrictive approach of the notion of negotiating powers that the national courts might have been tempted to pursue. The provisions of European law on agency contracts mention three substantial requirements the application of which would suffice for the classification of a commercial agent, thus favouriting a homogeneous, uniform classification of agency contracts: firstly, the agent must possess the quality of an independent intermediary. Secondly, the permanent character of its mission is decisive, in terms of establishing the existence of a permanent form of collaboration between the principal and the agent. Thirdly, the deciphering of the concept of „negotiating powers” is connected to one core element: the agent must perform an activity implying an authority to negotiate the sale or the purchase of goods in the name and/or on behalf of the principal, despite the fact that the agent received no authorisation to negotiate the price in the name of the principal.

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