Practice has shown that companies and businesses involved in international trade frequently use commercial agency and distributorship contracts to distribute their products abroad.

However, users should bear in mind fundamental differences in purpose and substance between these contracts when deciding which one to choose.

ICC Short Form Model Contracts, last published in 2002, gives a clear and concise presentation of both types of contract. It provides essential model clauses for drafting simplified contracts and is an invaluable tool for international traders.

This revised publication complements two recently-revised models, the ICC Model Commercial Agency Contract (publication No. 766) and the ICC Model Distributorship Contract (publication No. 776).

Revision of this model contract was prepared by a dedicated sub-group of the Agency and Distributorship Working Group under the auspices of the ICC Commission on Commercial Law and Practice, and was chaired by Fabio Bortolotti (Italy). The model benefited from the active participation of the following sub-group members: Horst Becker (Germany), Mariaelena Giorcelli (Italy), Sven Petersen (Denmark), Christoph Martin Radtke (France), and Carlo Tabellini (Italy).

As always, ICC national committees around the world were instrumental in circulating drafts of this contract to their trading communities for comment. ICC Secretariat direction was provided by Emily O’Connor, ICC Head of Policy for Commercial Law and Practice.