As most readers of this article will be aware, the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 (aligning at that point the UK with other EU countries, in terms of the regulation of the relationship as between principals and self-employed commercial sales agents) came into force in the UK with effect from 1 January 1994, and have ever since afforded agents (and principals) certain rights and protections, which rights and protections may in certain instances take precedence over whatever may otherwise be set out in any written agency agreement.
The perception is of course that the Regulations very much mostly afford the agent (as opposed to the principal) certain protective rights, with the judge in the case of Page v Combined Shipping and Trading Co Ltd in 1997 (Staughton LJ) famously commenting that:- ‘commercial agents are a downtrodden race, and need and should be afforded protection against their principals’.
The Regulations – which are based on a statutory instrument of the European Union – have thus been in place for fast approaching 30 years, with there having been many important court case decisions in this Country over those many years, including (most notably) the decision of the House of Lords in 2007 in the case of Lonsdale v Howard & Hallam Limited, which case concerned the basis and methodology for calculating compensation entitlements under Regulation 17(6).
Following however the UK’s decision in 2016 to exit the EU, the European Union (Withdrawal) Act of 2018 and the subsequent Withdrawal Agreement of 2020, there has been much speculation as to the future of ‘EU derived’ law in the UK, with that speculation particularly intensifying in recent times following the introduction (during Liz Truss’ premiership) of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. The Retained EU Law Bill proposed to ‘sunset’ with effect from 31 December 2023 the majority of retained EU law, and so that it expired with effect from the end of this year. As part of that, it was thought that the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 might be at risk of being scrapped in being part of the so-called ‘bonfire’ of legislation.
Whatever your politics and views as to the present government and its motivations for putting forward the Retained EU Law Bill, the news currently appears positive for agents in that not only has the sunset date of 31 December 2023 been removed from the Bill, but also what is now proposed is that the Government merely present to Parliament a (relatively short) list of all retained EU law that it is proposed be scrapped with the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 not (as at the date of this article, at least) featuring on that list.
Whereas the future applicability in the UK of various aspects of retained EU law cannot be predicted (and anything is possible depending on the outcome of the next General Election, and the working through and formalisation of the Windsor Framework), agents are at least for now set to continue to hopefully not be a downtrodden race!