Case C-574/21, 02 Czech Republic: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 23 March 2023 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Nejvyšší soud — Czech Republic) — QT v O2 Czech Republic a.s. (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Self-employed commercial agents — Directive 86/653/EEC — Article 17(2)(a) — Termination of the agency contract — Entitlement of the commercial agent to an indemnity — Conditions for granting — Equitable indemnity — Assessment — Concept of ‘commission lost by the commercial agent’ — Commission on future transactions — New customers brought by the commercial agent — Existing customers with whom the commercial agent has significantly increased the volume of business — One-off commission payments)
Date: 2023-03-23
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: commission agent, contract, customers, indemnification, remuneration of work, sales representative








C_2023173EN.01000601.xml










15.5.2023   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 173/6






Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 23 March 2023 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Nejvyšší soud — Czech Republic) — QT v O2 Czech Republic a.s.
(Case C-574/21, (1) 02 Czech Republic)
(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Self-employed commercial agents - Directive 86/653/EEC - Article 17(2)(a) - Termination of the agency contract - Entitlement of the commercial agent to an indemnity - Conditions for granting - Equitable indemnity - Assessment - Concept of ‘commission lost by the commercial agent’ - Commission on future transactions - New customers brought by the commercial agent - Existing customers with whom the commercial agent has significantly increased the volume of business - One-off commission payments)
(2023/C 173/07)
Language of the case: Czech

Referring court

Nejvyšší soud

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: QT

Defendant: O2 Czech Republic a.s.

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 17(2)(a) of Council Directive 86/653/EEC of 18 December 1986 on the coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents
is to be interpreted as meaning that the commission which the commercial agent would have received in the event of a hypothetical continuation of the agency contract, in respect of transactions which would have been concluded after the termination of that agency contract with new customers which he or she brought to the principal before that termination, or with customers with which he or she significantly increased the volume of business before that termination, must be taken into account in determining the indemnity provided for in Article 17(2) of that directive.










2.


Article 17(2)(a) of Directive 86/653
is to be interpreted as meaning that the payment of one-off commissions does not exclude from the calculation of the indemnity, provided for in Article 17(2), the commission lost by the commercial agent resulting from transactions carried out by the principal, after the termination of the commercial agency contract, with new customers which he or she brought to the principal before that termination, or with customers with which he or she significantly increased the volume of business before that termination, where those commissions correspond to flat-rate remuneration under any new contract concluded with those new customers or with existing customers of the principal, through the commercial agent.






(1)  OJ C 481, 29.11.2021.