Our client (a business with headquarters in England) planned to outsource its sales function in respect of numerous European countries to agents and distributors.

We drafted appropriate standard agreements for the client to act as a starting point for negotiation with such agents/ distributors.

The first agency agreement entered into related to Spain and the first distribution agreement involved Poland. We sought Spanish and Polish legal advice on the client’s behalf, specifically to determine whether mandatory local laws applied (so those that would supersede the governing English law) and whether there could be any enforcement issues in the foreign jurisdiction. In liaising with the foreign lawyers we ensured certainty of fees payable and timescales to ensure that the client’s timescales were met.

We subsequently incorporated appropriate amendments into the standard agreements to provide for mandatory local law and supported the client in its negotiation of the agreements with the agent and distributor.