Commercial Agents - An Update

The recent Court of Appeal case of Sagal v Atelier Bunz GmbH held that an agent with the authority to contract (as opposed to simply an authority to negotiate) is only a commercial agent for the purposes of the Commercial Agents Regulations 1993 if they contract in the name of the principal. The case is important confirmation of the definition of a "commercial agent". The Court looked at the documentation agreed between the principal and the agent as well as the agent and the customer; the two limbs of the definition of a commercial agent under the Commercial Agents Regulations 1993 (the "Regulations") and the actual business practice between the parties to determine whether an agent falls within the scope of the Regulations.