The Law and Regulation of Franchising in the EU

Elgar Intellectual Property Law and Practice series

Mark Abell, Partner in a law firm in the city of London, UK

The Law and Regulation of Franchising in the EU provides an in-depth analysis of the regulatory environment for franchising in the EU. Franchising in the EU comprises nearly 10,000 franchised brands and over €215 billion (US$300 billion) turnover per annum. However, compared to its scale in the US and Australia, franchising is not realising its full potential in the EU and the author points to the lack of homogeneity across members states as a large part of the problem.

‘Mark Abell’s book argues that the European franchising market fails to reach its potential as it remains unregulated. He supports this by analysing the historical legal and economic basics and risk/attraction profiles of franchising to franchisors and franchisee, compares the European situation to the highly developed regulatory regimes in the USA and Australia, and moves through to proposing and drafting a new EU directive to bring greater certainty and stability to cross border franchising in the EU. Comprehensively researched and very detailed, this book is a worthy contribution to the literature on the subject.’
– Graham Cunningham, Barrister, Hardwicke