The Corte di Cassazione has ruled (Judgment No. 1143/2022) that a non-competition clause in a commercial agency agreement is not subject to the general terms and conditions provision under Art. 1341 of the Codice Civile. The commercial agent had sued the company for adequate compensation for the agreed post-contractual non-competition clause. The contract provided for compensation for the non-competition clause by way of an additional commission of 0.25%. The Court of Appeal had ruled that such a non-competition clause was in principle permitted, but that it was void due to non-compliance with the so-called double signature requirement for disadvantageous general terms and conditions. However, the Corte di Cassazione was of the opinion that the GTC provision under Art. 1341 Codice Civile did not apply to the disputed clause. Commercial agency agreements rely on mutual personal trust, from which it followed that even a pre-formulated contract containing the non-competition clause could not be addressed to an indefinite number of possible contractual partners, which was a prerequisite for the existence of GTC. A specific written acceptance of the clause was therefore not required.