And later on at p. 707:
"Without pretending to mention all the factors and considerations that may affect the length of the advance notice period, among these considerations are the following considerations: the nature of the product and the period required for its penetration into the market; the amounts of expenses and investments required to distribute it; the expected profit rate compared to the expenses and investments required by the juice; The chance of the product being distributed by the manufacturer even after the end of the agreement, even without the distribution activities by the distributor or, in other words, the degree of connection and dependence between the customers and the distributor."
These various considerations, which were enumerated in the Supreme Court's ruling, were not proven by the respondent and therefore it was not possible to award compensation for advance notice. The law establishes an egalitarian and general criterion, which applies to all agency agreements, and relies only on the seniority of the contractual relationship, without taking into account the other considerations enumerated above. Therefore, it cannot be applied by way of analogy as the trial court did.
For all of the above reasons, the respondent should not be awarded advance notice fees. Having reached this conclusion, it is now necessary to examine whether the respondent is entitled to a ruling on advance notice fees in accordance with the provisions of the law. A prerequisite for this is that the contractual relationship between the parties falls within the definition of an agency agreement according to the law.
Is the relationship between the parties an agency relationship?
- I believe that the relationship between the parties meets the definition of a supplier-agent and the agreement that was entered into between them is an agency agreement. Section 2 of the law states:
"An agency contract is a contract for consideration between a supplier and a commercial agent, in which the supplier empowers the commercial agent with ongoing authorization to locate new customers or to engage further with existing customers, for the purpose of purchasing goods marketed by the supplier, without an employee-employer relationship or partnership relationship between the parties."