FRANCHISING: what is it?

Note: The use of the masculine gender (he/his) in the texts of the EFF’s website does not denote gender bias, but simply
facility of language.

1. Franchising: definition & descriptions

2. Mutual duties and services of the franchiser & each franchisee
3. Motivations of each party for choosing franchising
4. Franchising and vertical clauses of restraint to protect IPRs including Know-How
5. History & other uses of the term “franchising”
6. What franchising is not
7. See also: EFF Report: Franchising, a Vector for Economic Growth (voir lien dans bouton Publications)

1. Franchising: definition & descriptions

 The European Franchise Federation promotes and defends the following definition of (business)
Franchising because it details the essential elements of a franchise agreement. In particular it highlights
the cornerstone of any franchise system which is the KNOW-HOW it has developed for that particular
system. It is in a franchise’s know-how that lays the value of the business proposition and which makes a
franchise business duplicable and transferable to independent entrepreneurs/operators working “at
arm’s length” from the franchiser.

 European Code of Ethics for Franchising. The Code states:

“Franchising is a system of marketing goods and/or services and/or technology, which is based upon a close
and ongoing collaboration between legally and financially separate and independent undertakings, the
Franchisor and its individual Franchisees, whereby the Franchisor grants its individual Franchisee the right, and
imposes the obligation, to conduct a business in accordance with the Franchisor's concept.

The right entitles and compels the individual Franchisee, in exchange for a direct or indirect financial
consideration, to use the Franchisor's trade name, and/or trade mark and /or service mark, know-how,
business and technical methods, procedural system, and other industrial and /or intellectual property rights,
supported by continuing provision of commercial and technical assistance, within the framework and for the
term of a written franchise agreement, concluded between parties for this purpose.

KNOW-HOW - the description below is adapted for franchising from the definition in:
COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2790/1999 of 22 December 1999 on the application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty to
categories of vertical agreements and concerted practices*
*replaced in 2010 by the COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 330/2010 of 20 April 2010 on the application of Article 101(3) of
the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to categories of vertical agreements and concerted practices which is
accompanied by its Guidelines http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/legislation/vertical.html

Note: EC Regulations 330/2010 and 2790/1999 describe intellectual property rights’ (IPRs) as including
industrial property rights, KNOW HOW, copyright and neighboring rights.

"Know-how" means a body of non-patented practical information, resulting from experience and testing by the
Franchisor, which is secret, substantial and identified;

-"secret" means that the know-how, as a body or in the precise configuration and assembly of its components,
is not generally known or easily accessible;

EFF interpretation: ‘secret’ must not be understood in a narrow sense whereby each individual component of the
know-how should be totally unknown or unobtainable outside the Franchisor's business;

-"substantial" means that the know-how includes information which is indispensable to the franchisee for the
use, sale or resale of the contract goods or services;

EFF interpretation: in particular for the presentation of goods for sale, the processing of goods in connection with
the provision of services, methods of dealing with customers, and administration and financial management; the
know-how is indispensable for the Franchisee because it constitutes the transfer of a tested and proven business
system, devised to improve the competitive position of the Franchisee, in particular by improving the Franchisee's
performance or helping it to enter a new market .

-"identified" means that the know-how must be described in a sufficiently comprehensive manner so as to make
it possible to verify that it fulfils the criteria of secrecy and substantiality ;

EFF interpretation: the description of the know-how can be set out either in the franchise agreement, in a
separate document or recorded in any other appropriate form.

 In a lot of franchise literature, particular in English, the business system described above is known as
“business-format franchising”. Other languages use the terms “formula” or “system” in reference to format.

Source of the following description: Martin Mendelsohn, “Franchising Law”, Kluwer, 2004

“Business format franchising” is a type of commercial relationship based on a contractual agreement between
two independent business parties, the franchisor (the seller of the business proposition) and the franchisee
(the buyer of the business proposition), in which the franchisor grants the franchisee, for the term of the
contract, the right to buy and operate the franchisor’s branded and formatted business system for a fee and
according to the prescribed rules and procedures developed for the system by the franchisor.

The franchisor’s “business format franchise” necessarily comprises the following 5 essential elements:
1. A brand name (registered as a brand name and/or a trademark, etc.) which serves as the umbrella sign
for the network, and a rallying sign for the consumer and public,
2. a licence to the use the brand, granted to the franchisee by the franchisor,
3. a business system – a business concept formatted into a duplicable value “package” founded on the
franchisor’s tested Know How and his continued assistance during the term of the agreement,
4. payment by the franchisee of a financial consideration, either in a direct form, such as an entrance fee
and/or a continuing fee (“royalty”), and/or an indirect form such as a mark-up on supplied goods,
5. the investment in, and ownership of, the assets of the franchised business by the franchisee.

 The French Franchise Federation characterises “business-format franchising” as the

“reiteration/duplication of a successful formula”.
 reiteration/duplication implies that the formula has first been tested through a pilot outlet/setup by
the franchisor or with his support, on a relevant market before being sold as a business proposition;
that it has proven itself to be transferable and successfully operable an independent business
entrepreneur/operator including “first-time” entrepreneurs;
 successful implies that the formula/system has been tested with success and affords tangible
opportunities of success to its franchisees;
 the reality of the “network” and its dynamics, which does not translate into contractual terms, is
nevertheless at the heart of any business-format franchise. The franchiser-franchisee relationship is
bilateral on a contractual level, but on the operational level, the rights and obligations of each are
embedded in the operations of a close-knit network of franchisees operating in complementarity and
for the good of the whole network.

2. Mutual duties and services of the franchiser & each franchisee

Brief overview of the franchisers and franchisee’s mutual duties, services, rights and obligations.
These duties are specific to each party but complementary. They must be executed in a spirit of
cooperation, dialogue and transparency. This list is illustrative and non-exhaustive.

Franchisee Franchisor

Optimise his sales on his allocated territory or steering the business’s overall development
customer group strategy
Doing so in full respect of business format as Protecting its concepts and IPRs, including the
contractually defined, including respecting the franchiser’s know-how.
common identity and reputation of the franchise The EC Block Exemption Regulation 330/2010
network, as well as the confidentiality of the (see below) defines IPRs as such: “‘intellectual
business know-how transferred property rights’ includes industrial property rights,
KNOW HOW, copyright and neighbouring rights”.
 Meet the franchise format’s standards and developing and improving the franchise concept
procedures and KNOW-HOW to ensure its continued
competitiveness, reputation and customer
satisfaction
provide the requested information as well as Developing and improving its start-up and
allow personally developed improvements to be continued assistance to the franchisee in the
integrated into the company’s know-how for the course of the agreement (training, general
benefit of the network management assistance). It provides the
marketing operations instructions (Manual or
“bible”) to enable the franchisee to carry out the
business
cooperate with new promotion programs as well Developing responsible recruitment strategies of
as upgrades of the format/system franchisees
guaranteeing the end-customer the best possible Ensuring the promotion of the brand on the
service market through appropriate advertising
campaigns
Pay the fees* according to the contractual Develop efficient record-keeping systems for
schedule purposes of control, adjustment, advice,
benchmarking
Set up regular platforms for franchisor-
franchisees communication, including working
commissions
Foresee conflict management procedures
Update all binding documentation: contracts,
operations manuals, pre-contractual disclosure
obligations, as the case may be (see Regulation)

* Fees and costs: a franchisee buying a franchise “value package” including IPRs and access to the
franchisor’s know-how will pay a combination of different types of fees. Each franchise format defines its
own types of fees and fee schedule.
Fees may include:
 Entrance or start-up fee which usually included a licence fee
 On-going royalties as service fees for the on-going support services of the franchiser
 Advertising fees

Franchisees will also, in the course of time, be asked to invest in the upgrading costs of the format/system.
Upgrades are necessary to keep up with market trends and to maintain the competitiveness of the brand.
“understanding franchisee fees” see: http://www.thebfa.org/join-a-franchise/understanding-franchise-
fees

3. Motivations of each party for choosing franchising

Some motivations for opting to develop or join a franchise business.

Franchisor Franchisee

To develop and roll out a business format/system To be able to start a business without having to
which will be sold for a regular fee to start from scratch alone while being an
independent operators independent entrepreneur; being in the business
“for yourself but not by yourself”
To develop the business with the added input of To buy into a system which, in principle, has been
franchisee capital which increases the tested; proven successful in the given
possibilities for the franchiser of rapid expansion circumstances;
of the system
To develop the business in locations beyond the To gain immediate access to a market via the
franchiser’s natural boundaries of business (new right to use the franchiser’s brand or trademark
and international markets) and to benefit from customers attracted to the
brand
To develop a business in which the franchiser has To benefit from the transfer of know-how and
his specific duties and obligations and the assistance during the term of the contract
franchisees their own
 Buying into an existing and branded business can
enhance the survivability of a new franchised
business in the first crucial years after start-up.

4. Franchising and vertical clauses of restraint to protect IPRs including Know-How

Reference:
COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 330/2010 of 20 April 2010 on the application of Article 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union to categories of vertical agreements and concerted practices and its GUIDELINES on Vertical Restraints
(Text with EEA relevance) (2010/C 130/01) http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/legislation/vertical.html

Often, franchise agreements include various clauses of restriction with the view of protecting its IPRs.
IPRs are described as including industrial property rights, KNOW HOW, copyright and neighboring rights.

Such clauses are governed by Competition law which determines the conditions under which such clauses are licit and in
what circumstances. Indeed, for Competition law, in an open and free economy, contractual arrangements must not
constitute a barrier to free trade. Competition law & authorities control this. However, the protection for example of
brands and IPRs, know-how, territorial or customer groups may be protected by clauses of restriction in due respect of
particular conditions.

For the purposes of Competition law, a franchise agreement is viewed as principally a distribution agreement (which
includes IPRs, but in which IPRs are accessory to the distribution component which constitutes the principal object of the
agreement) as well as a vertical agreement.

The Regulation 330/2010 defines:

- A ‘vertical agreement’ as an agreement or concerted practice entered into between two or more undertakings each of
which operates, for the purposes of the agreement or the concerted practice, at a different level of the production or
distribution chain, and relating to the conditions under which the parties may purchase, sell or resell certain goods or
services;

- A ‘vertical restraint’ as a restriction of competition in a vertical agreement falling within the scope of Article 101(1) of
the Treaty. Examples of vertical restraints are (i) non-compete clauses, (ii) exclusive distribution.

The Guidelines in its section on Franchising, state (p. 39, #190, (a)), “The more important the transfer of know-how, the
more likely it is that the restraints create efficiencies and/or are indispensable to protect the know-how and that the
vertical restraints fulfil the conditions of Article 101(3)”

5. History & other meanings of the term “franchise” and subsequently of “franchising”

The term “franchise” is a term that dates back to the 13th & 14th centuries in Europe. To be granted a franchise
was to be granted a liberty, a privilege to do something. In Medieval Europe, towns developed as
agglomerations in which traders and shopkeepers were granted rights/privileges/”franchises” to operate with
relative independence from obligations usually due to the feudal authorities. Likewise, some of the first
territories colonised in northern America – in the name of the English or French kings - were developed on the
basis of franchises granted to the first colonisers to open and develop new territories.

A variation of the meaning today refers to being granted or benefitting from an exemption or immunity from
an obligation. For example, in health systems that are subsidised by a public authority, the patient and State
share the costs of the medical acts, with the patient usually paying for a “base” portion of the total costs. The
subsidising authority exempts itself from that “base” portion, the franchise, and subsidises the remaining
portion. Similarly, it is common in most vehicle insurance contracts that the person insured will be responsible
for paying a portion of (franchise) of whatever costs are engaged (ie. repair costs following an accident). The
“franchise” is designed to the benefit the insurance company.

Note: Industrial franchising (wholesale or retail)

Manufacturers may licence their product(s), recipes or processing methods to wholesalers who will produce or
process the products and sell them on a particular market. Contractual procedures and standards will often be
included with the licence. In turn, the products may be sold to other intermediaries, wholesalers or retailers.
This scheme is closer to an industrial licence agreement than to “business-format franchising” unless a separate
franchise agreement is adjoined to the industrial licence agreement.
An example is the production/bottling/ Coca-Cola licence agreement. An industrial licence may be combined
with a distinct distribution agreement that may be a franchise agreement.

5. What franchising is not

Caution: The frontiers between franchising and other forms of businesses with independent operators is a
delicate issue. Professional advice is recommended when considering signing any such business contract.

The modernisation, expansion and globalisation of commerce and markets has led to a multitude of types
commercial relationships involving an association of independent business operators banded together to draw
greater benefits from the pooling together of resources. Each type has its specificities.

The following business schemes may share elements with “business-format franchising” but should not be
assimilated to business-format franchising, nor called “franchising”.

Corporate chain store: a chain of outlets are commonly owned and controlled by a single company and its
branches or subsidiaries; employ central buying and merchandising and sell similar lines of merchandise.

Voluntary chain: a network of independent retailers or service companies (i.e. hotel chains) engaged in
centralised bulk buying, and eventually some common merchandising, common standards of service but
leaving a fair margin for individuality in outlet name, design and operations. The chain entity is structured as
an enterprise*. The relationship between this structure and the chain members may be contractual or
corporate (corporate relationships being either cooperative or capitalistic)

Cooperative: a network of independent businesses each part-owner of a central entity which acts as a buying
platform; may conduct joint promotion efforts; many cooperatives today also develop a separate “business-
format franchise” entity to accelerate the growth of the network in which the “distributor” may or may not
also be a part-owner of the cooperative.

Licence agreements
A licence right may relate to any of the following Intellectual ((intangible) Property Rights-IPRs:
trademark, name/brand, patent, copy right, legally protected design, trade secret, manufacturing process or
any item of value.
The licenser sells the right to USE the licence (not the ownership of the licence) under the terms of the
agreement to an independent licensee who in return pays a fee or royalty.
All franchises necessarily have a licence component to their franchise contract, and this is an essential element
of any franchise contract, but business-format franchising offers, in addition, a business format which sells as a
packaged business proposition.

Note: Under EU Competition Law, franchise agreements benefit, under prescribed conditions, from the terms
of the Block Exemption Regulation on Vertical restraints as applied to distribution agreements (distribution of
products or services) because the Commission considers the primary object of franchise agreement to be the
distribution process and not the license even if the licence component is a necessary and essential element of
any franchise agreement.

Agency agreements: the agent acts for and in the name of the principal for a fee; usually; unless otherwise
specified by contract, an agent does not assume the risk or venture of the deals; an agent is not an
independent entrepreneur as a franchisee is understood to be the purposes of a franchise agreement.

Broker agreements:
i.e. Independent brokers or agents who sell financial services supplied by financial institutions.
Closer to agency agreements than to franchise agreements. For example, if one of the following essential
elements is absent, they cannot be qualified as a franchise agreement: initial & ongoing know-how, does the
“franchisee” have the right to sell the business?, who owns the customer base, etc.?

Selective distribution-SD:
The BER 330/2010 states that a ‘selective distribution system’ means a distribution system where the supplier
undertakes to sell the contract goods or services, either directly or indirectly, only to distributors selected on
the basis of specified criteria and where these distributors undertake not to sell such goods or services to
unauthorised distributors within the territory reserved by the supplier to operate that system giving the right
to a selection of intermediary dealers to sell a company’s products or services;
The difference with franchise agreements (which may include an element of ‘exclusive distribution’) is the
selection criteria for each distributor: in SD, the specified selection criteria must be standardised. In
franchising, franchisors have full liberty in the recruitment criteria & procedures of their future franchisees.
One of the advantages of franchising for a franchisee is that the business-format offers the opportunity to
candidates with no or limited independent business experience to own and run a business.

* source: Distribution Law in Europe, E&Y, 2001

For clarification on the subtleties of the differences or overlap between the networks described above and
franchise agreements, the EFF highly recommends consultation with experienced distribution/franchise
lawyers/attorneys.