The Uniform Act defines a business as a collection of various tangible and intangible movable assets that as a whole allow a commercial operator to attract and retain its clientele.
Components of the business
Any business comprises a clientele and a logo or trading name. In addition, it may comprise installations, shopfittings, equipment, furniture, stock, lease agreements, licenses, trademarks and patents, drawings and models and any other intellectual property rights necessary for its operation.
Management leases
A business may either be directly operated by its owner or leased to another commercial operator or company under a management lease (contrat de location – gerance), defined as an agreement by which the owner of a business grants to a manager (locataire-gerant) the right to operate the business at his own risk.
- Requirements for a management lease: The manager must have commercial status, and is subject to all the obligations incumbent upon commercial operators, in particular as regards registration with the RCCM. The owner of the business must himself have operated it for at least one year, and must have been either an individual commercial operator or the general manager or commercial or technical manager of a commercial company for at least two years.
- Effects of the management lease: Once the management lease has been entered into, the new manager is required to state his own commercial details (name, registered office, RCCM number), together with an indication that he is the locataire-gerante of the business, on all invoices, orders and other financial or commercial documents.
- Duration and termination of the management lease: A management lease is usually entered into for a fixed term. The Uniform Act has envisaged early termination, without specifying any particular conditions or consequences in such an event. As a result, these issues would have to be dealt with either under the agreement itself or under general contract law.
Add comment