Frequently Asked Questions

I am an agent but don’t have a written agency agreement. Am I still covered by the Commercial Agents Regulations?

The Regulations apply to all commercial agents undertaking activities within Great Britain unless the parties have agreed that the law of another member state of the European Union is to apply. Accordingly, most agents operating in the UK are protected by the Regulations, irrespective of whether or not the agency agreement is in writing.

Even though there is not a formal written agency agreement between you and your principal, there is still in place an agency agreement. It could be that there is a letter of appointment and other correspondence recording the terms of the agency. If there is no such documentation, there will be in place an oral agency, the terms of which will have been established by a course of dealing.

The Regulations operate so as to imply into the agency agreement certain terms. These include terms about:

• the duties owed by you to your principal and by your principal to you;
  
• when commission becomes due to you and when it should be paid to you; and
  
• what your rights are on termination of the agency.

It is possible to exclude some of these terms by providing for this in the agency agreement. In an oral agency agreement, these terms are unlikely to have been excluded.