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Contractual dealer agreement or ongoing business relationship?

Contract law

Contractual dealer agreement or ongoing business relationship?

In an interesting decision, the OLG Hamm (judgement of 14.5.2020, 18 U 93/19) had denied the existence of an authorised dealer agreement between the parties, as the typical features of the type of agreement, such as the duty to promote sales, the manufacturer's right to issue instructions, the integration into the manufacturer's sales organisation, were not present. In view of the continuation of the business relationship between the parties, the court assumed the existence of a continuing obligation, with the consequence that the supplier was at least obliged to observe a reasonable period of notice. By way of comparison, reference should be made to a recent - not yet final - judgment of the Milan court obtained by our law firm, which denied both the existence of an authorised dealer agreement and the necessity of observing a reasonable period of notice despite a business relationship lasting more than 10 years (AZ: 49719/14).