Defendant, a British company, appointed Claimant, of German origin, as its exclusive agent for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Nine years later, the agent gave notice of termination of their agency agreement due to his having reached retirement age and for health reasons. He claimed compensation under Article 89(b) of the Handelsgesetzbuch (HGB), the parties having decided that German law would be applicable to their agreement. Article 89(b) HGB entitles an agent to claim appropriate compensation from a principal upon termination of their relationship if the principal continues to reap substantial benefits from the business relations acquired by the agent and if termination deprives the agent of commission from business already concluded or to be concluded with business relations acquired by him, provided it is fair and reasonable to pay such compensation. If it is the agent who terminates the agency contract, then he forfeits his right to compensation, unless termination was caused by the principal's behaviour or the agent could not be expected to carry on due to age or ill health. German law further states that the agent's claim may not be excluded in advance and that it must be brought within a year of the termination of his relations with the principal. In the present case, the principal objected to the application of Article 89(b) HGB on the ground that the agency agreement contained a clause expressly excluding compensation. The sole arbitrator first considered whether Article 89(b) HGB was applicable and, if so, whether it could be overridden by agreement between the parties. Deciding that the agent had a legal and non-excludable claim to compensation, he then turned to the question of the amount of the compensation and how this was to be calculated.