THE NETHERLANDS: New case law on exclusive distribution.
The decision of a Supplier to take away the exclusivity rights from the distributor as they were originally granted to the latter, is to be considered as a de facto termination of an exclusive distribution agreement.
It was furthermore confirmed by the court that an exclusive distribution agreement concluded for a definite period of time can not be earlier terminated unless the Contract contains specific provisions for that purpose or in case of unforeseen circumstances which make that a continuance until the date of expiry of the agreed term can not be required taking into account the principles of reasonableness and fairness.
Jaap van Till, IDI country Expert for Netherlands
The text of the judgement, together with other relevant texts are available in the dutch page of the Reports Section of the website, while the relevant legislation concerning agency and distribution agreements in Netherlands can be found in the Legislation Section of the Website.
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