Heidi

Hi- You can answer in Dutch if you want, my reading skills are quite OK! They are indeed asking me to sign something, my strategy is string it out as long as I can. And in fact negotiation in the end will be the key, as part of my negotiation strategy I am trying to get some facts to strengthen my negotiating position by putting my fall back plan into place. Having said that, they say in one breathe, that it is an exclusive agreement with British distributor "A", however they make an exception to this rule by also allowing Dutch distributor "B" to sell into the UK, leaving Dutch distributor "C" (me) out in the cold. If I were to rephrase the whole issue with a bit more cheeky slant on the the whole thing, Distributor "A" and Distributor "B" are "old boys" and together they are throwing their weight around.

Alvast heel erg bedankt voor de reacties. Er is al wat e-mail communicatie heen en weer als iedereen bezig is on zichzelf voortebereiden voor de 2 jaarlijkse beurs eind volgende week in Amerika. een paar punten in reactie: -wij zijn distributeur van hun voor al 4 jaar -in die tijd is er nooit een schrijftlijk overeenkomst -pressure points zijn alleen ze hun wat omzet verliezen als waarschijnlijk er zijn winkels de wil niet per se zaken doen met de andere bedrijf, maar ik vrees dat maakt weining indruk -een overeenkomst betekent ook er is geen formele leverings verplichtingen However if I read your comments correctly, a supplier is free to say that I am allowed to sell in certain countries within in the EU, but not in other countries. And that can be legally upheld. Furthermore, if I cease to sell this particular brand I incur damages in several areas namely: l-oss of sales -good will with UK customers depending on us to supply these products -I've already paid fees for trade show in England that will now be left empty (approx 3,000 euro) -necessary modification to on line store to prevent UK customers from ordering this brand from us Again, I am ever so grateful for your input. and apologies for gross mistakes in my dutch... it is rather hopeless I fear!

Hi- Maybe it's better if write in English as my Dutch writing skills are rubbish. First I'm not talking about price fixing. These products are imported from the US (it is paper) and for the last 4 years I have been importing from the US and exporting to stores in Europe (mostly EU, obviously) and now the manufacturer wants to sign an "exclusive" deal with someone else, a new player in the UK which would prohibit me from selling to the UK. I thought this was illegal, as once a product in imported into the EU one is free to trade within the EU. I don't know where to look for this legislation. Feel free to write back in Dutch, as I read Dutch perfectly.

Hier is mijn vraag: Ik ben distributeur voor een amerikaanse bedrijf voor een aantal jaren. Nu willen ze dat ik ga akkord NIET in de UK verkopen. Volgens mij is dat tegen wet van de EU. Kan iemand mij hier mee helpen? Alvast bedankt.