Language of document : ECLI:EU:C:2018:262

Case C645/16

Conseils et mise en relations (CMR) SARL

v

Demeures terre and tradition SARL

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation (France))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Self-employed commercial agents — Directive 86/653/EEC — Right of the commercial agent to an indemnity or compensation for damage following termination of the commercial agency contract — Article 17 — Exclusion from the right to indemnity in the event of termination of the contract during the trial period provided for in the contract)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 19 April 2018

Freedom of movement for persons — Freedom of establishment — Self-employed commercial agents — Directive 86/653 –Right of the commercial agent to an indemnity or compensation for damage following termination of the commercial agency contract — Exclusion from the right to indemnity in the event of termination of the contract during the trial period provided for in the contract — Not permissible

(Council Directive 86/653, Art. 17)

Article 17 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 must be interpreted as meaning that the indemnity and compensation regimes laid down by that article, in paragraphs 2 and 3 respectively, in the event of termination of the commercial agency contract are applicable where termination occurs during the trial period provided for by the contract.

The interpretation that no indemnity is payable in the event of termination of the commercial agency contract during the trial period is incompatible with the mandatory nature of the regime established by Article 17 of Directive 86/653.

(see paras 36, 38, operative part)