Such contracts have been and remain being one of the most contentious in the right recruitment materia. Hence the countless attempts by the legislature to establish a specific regulation for them, though with no result in success. This is the reason why nowadays we still find such controversy regarding the termination and compensation clientele distribution contracts and analogous application of Law 12/1992, from the Agency Agreement (LCA, hereinafter).

The Supreme Court has declared applicable for Distribution contracts, on numerous occasions, Article 28 of the LCA, concerning compensation for clientele. However, the application has been made based on different grounds and under certain conditions, such as being subject to the requirements of that Article, plus three other requirements as noted by some judgments:

1. The grantee must be sufficiently integrated into the distribution network of the grantor, in the sense that it should not be a mere relation buyer / seller.
2. The grantor should be able to take advantage of actually generated customers.
3. It must be an exclusive distribution contract. Exclusiveness must not be taken for granted and must be accredited, like the existence of a genuine distribution contract, as provided by settled case law.

Still, leaving aside the multiple causes of extinction for these contracts, we can find some assumptions which are distinctive to trigger customer’s compensation, including:

– Implementation of the agreed period.

– Advent of the subsequent condition.

– Mutual dissent.

– The unilateral decision of any of the parties involved.

– Death of any of the sides.

– Bankruptcy of any of the sides.

If you have any doubts on this topic, whether it is due to legal holes or the general confusion that surrounds this matter, you can always find the support and/or professional advice needed in DAEMI ZABALZA & ASOCIADOS, a multidisciplinary law firm with a full range of specialists in this issue.