The franchise agreement in the Proposal of the Draft Law of the Commercial Code issued after the Opinion of the Spanish State Council

Abstract

This paper analyzes the franchise agreement in light of the regulation provided for distribution agreements in articles 545-1 et seq. of the Proposal of the Draft Law of the Commercial Code issued after the Opinion of the Spanish State Council. Despite its great importance, our legal system currently lacks a legal regime that regulates a legal framework of the franchise agreement, therefore, said agreement is considered as atypical. However, although Law 7/1996, of January 15, on Retail Trade and Royal Decree 201/2010, of February 26, which regulates the exercise of commercial activity under the franchise regime and the communication of data to the franchisor registry, regulate some aspects of the franchise agreement in Spain, these regulations are completely insufficient, therefore to this day the franchise agreement continues to have the Spanish Civil Code and the Spanish Commercial Code as its main legal references. Thus, the proposed regulation of the franchise agreement provided for in the Proposal of the Draft Law of the Commercial Code issued after the Opinion of the Spanish State Council, despite not being the first attempt to regulate the franchise agreement, if it finally occurs will constitute an important step forward in the regulation of such agreement in our legal system, providing greater legal certainty for the franchise sector in Spain.