Commercial agent meaning

If a charity opts to collaborate with a professional fundraising agent or a commercial participator, it must establish an agreement whose specific terms comply with the relevant statutory obligations applicable to such arrangements in law...

This Checklist This Checklist outlines the key matters a principal should weigh up when engaging a sales and marketing agent to sell and/or promote goods or services. It reviews relevant preliminary, commercial and legal points that principals may wish to tackle when both drafting and negotiating a sales and marketing agency agreement. It covers commercial agents under the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 (the Commercial Agents Regulations), SI 1993/3053 and the appointment of agents that are not commercial agents. For more guidance on appointing a sales and marketing agency, see Practice Note: How to appoint a sales and marketing agent...

Verein für Konsumenteninformation v Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV., Case C-45/24, ECLI:EU:C:2026:2 What are the practical implications of this case? Up to now, airlines have typically maintained that when a ticket is refunded owing to a cancellation or a delay exceeding five hours, any commission levied by an intermediary, such as a travel agent at the time of booking, falls outside the reimbursable sum. Carriers generally do not know the commission figure and do not receive it as part of the fare revenue. Such commission is usually neither disclosed to the airline nor remitted with the ticket proceeds. This judgment confirms that, where a carrier is obliged to return the ticket price following a cancellation (or a long delay beyond five hours), the repayment must also cover the intermediary’s commission, even if the carrier does not know the amount involved. That position holds irrespective of the carrier’s knowledge of the figure at any point. As a result of this outcome, airlines will need to liaise with agents to determine...

In this issue: Property management Investigating title Environment, energy and buildings Residential property Statutory compliance Property in Scotland Property in Wales Transferring property Property insolvency Property taxes Additional property updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers New Q&As Property management Second edition of RICS service charge standard The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has released the second edition of its professional standard on service charges in commercial property. Compulsory for all RICS-accredited practitioners and aimed at UK property managers and occupiers, it seeks to lift standards and foster greater transparency, fairness and consistency in service charge management and administration. The revision addresses key challenges, including issuing budgets and year-end certificates promptly, works to reduce causes of disputes between landlords and tenants, and offers clearer guidance on resolving disagreements. It also aids the negotiation, drafting, interpretation and operation of leases, ensuring alignment with recognised industry best practice....

In this issue: Property management Leasing property Residential property Transferring property Investigating title Property insolvency Easements, rights and covenants Property development Additional property updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers Property management Building Safety Act 2022 and recoverability of service charges In Adriatic Land 5 Ltd v Long Leaseholders at Hippersley Point [2025] EWCA Civ 856, the Court of Appeal considered whether paragraph 9 of Schedule 8 to the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) operates retrospectively so as to bar landlords from passing on specified service charge liabilities to holders of qualifying leases. By majority, the court also concluded the pertinent BSA 2022 provisions have retroactive effect. Consequently, a landlord is prohibited from recouping certain expenditure incurred before BSA 2022 came into force on 28 June 2022 from leaseholders with qualifying leases. Accordingly, any landlord who had not reclaimed the relevant service charges from...

In most bond or note offerings, the issuer will appoint an agent—or more frequently a panel of agents—to perform a range of administrative tasks on its behalf in connection with the issue. One agent will co-ordinate the activities of the others. Where the transaction does not include a trustee, that co-ordinating role falls to the fiscal agent. If a trustee is involved, the principal paying agent performs the co-ordinating function instead. The primary benefit of a fiscal agency structure for a straightforward bond issue is the potential for lower costs overall. By comparison, putting in place the alternative arrangement with a trustee and principal paying agency is typically more expensive to establish in practice. For ease of reference in this Practice Note, the term ‘bonds’ is used in a generic sense to cover all forms of debt securities (including bonds, notes and commercial paper). For guidance on the difference between ‘bonds’ and ‘notes’ and the meaning of ‘commercial paper’, see Practice Note: Types of debt securities. Who is the...

What does this Practice Note cover? This Practice Note describes the duties and functions of a bond trustee appointed under an English law trust deed for a bond issue. A trustee is not a feature of every bond offering. Some issues proceed without one. The issuer chooses whether to use a trustee or a fiscal agent—see Practice Note: Parties in an issue of debt securities—Fiscal agent or trustee. Bringing in a trustee has significant implications for the issuer and for bondholders (see: Reasons for appointing a trustee below). In this Practice Note, ‘bonds’ is used as a catch-all term for debt securities of all kinds (such as bonds, notes and commercial paper). Be aware, however, that alternative considerations can arise in structured finance deals. For an explanation of the difference between ‘bonds’ and ‘notes’ and the definition of ‘commercial paper’, see Practice Note: Types of debt securities. Who is the bond trustee? The trustee is appointed by the issuer and serves as the go-between for the issuer...

This Practice Note has been archived and is no longer maintained. It summarised key legal and regulatory changes expected to affect in-house lawyers in 2022. While some were definitive, others were more speculative or tied to the parliamentary timetable. It was last updated on 25 November 2022. Commercial The table below presents edited highlights that are not sector specific. For more details, see: Commercial tracker Category Details Expected or actual date Unjust enrichment and contract drafting (Updated) In Barton v Gwyn-Jones [2019] EWCA Civ 1999, the Court of Appeal considered whether the so-called ‘Costello principle’ prevented an unjust enrichment claim by an agent for an introduction fee where an oral contract governed the contractual arrangement. The court’s analysis turned on the precise interpretation of the remuneration terms and offers a clear and valuable lesson on the failure of parties to provide for all possible outcomes by express contractual agreement. See News Analysis: Contractual silence—a gateway for unjust enrichment (Barton v...

This Agreement is entered into on [ date ] Parties [ insert name of party ] [ of OR a company incorporated in [ England and Wales ] with registration number [ insert registered number ], whose registered office is at [ insert address ] ] (the Principal); and [ insert name of party ] [ of OR a company incorporated in [ England and Wales ] with registration number [ insert registered number ], whose registered office is at [ insert address ] ] (the Agent), (each of the Principal and the Agent is a party and, taken together, the Principal and the Agent are the parties). Background The Principal provides the Services (as defined below). The Principal intends to appoint the Agent as its non-exclusive agent within the Territory (as defined below) for the [ marketing OR marketing and sale ] of the Services, on the terms of this Agreement. The Agent has agreed...

[ insert Principal’s name ][ insert Principal’s address ] Dear [ insert name ], Agency Agreement dated [ insert date ] (the ‘Agreement’) [ This correspondence records our recent discussions. ] In line with clause [ insert number of clause containing termination provision ], please treat this correspondence as [ immediate OR [ insert figure ] days’ ] notice bringing the Agreement to an end...

This Agreement is entered into on [ date ] Parties [ insert name of party ] [ of OR a company incorporated in [ England and Wales ] under number [ insert registered number ] whose registered office is at ] [ insert address ] (the Principal); and [ insert name of party ] [ of OR a company incorporated in [ England and Wales ] under number [ insert registered number ] whose registered office is at ] [ insert address ] (the Agent). Each of the Principal and the Agent is a party, and together the Principal and the Agent are the parties. Background The Principal [ manufactures OR manufactures and sells ] the Products (as defined below). The Principal intends to appoint the Agent as its exclusive agent in the Territory (as defined below) for the [ marketing OR marketing and sale ] of the Products, on the terms of this Agreement. The...

Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 (BA 2010) provides: (1) A relevant commercial organisation (“C”) is guilty of an offence under this section if a person (“A”) associated with C offers a bribe to another person with the intention of: (a) securing or retaining business for C; or (b) securing or retaining an advantage in the conduct of C’s business. (2) However, it is a defence for C to prove that it had in place adequate procedures devised to prevent persons associated with C from carrying out such conduct. BA 2010, s 8 defines an associated person: (1) For the purposes of section 7, a person (“A”) is associated with C if (disregarding any bribe under consideration) A is a person who performs services for or on behalf of C. (2) The capacity in which A performs services for or on behalf of C does not matter. (3) Accordingly A may (for example) be C’s...