The Court of Appeal dismissed this claim on the ground that
‘there is no rule or standard commercial practice which prohibits suppliers from informing their distributor’s customers or selling agents, shortly before the expiration date of the distribution agreement, that after said date they will have to procure their supplies from another distributor; this information, which is necessary to avoid interruptions of sales, does not prohibit customers from continuing to purchase supplies from the former distributor for any other products it may distribute.’
However, the information must not be formulated in such a way as to harm the first distributor (e.g., by referring to its incompetence); otherwise, the supplier may be held civilly liable for defamation.
Didier Ferrier, IDI Country Expert for France.
