The Institute of Commercial Concession in Russia and Franchising Abroad: Correlation, Problems of Legal Regulation and Options of their Solution

Abstract

The successful development of entrepreneurial activity requires the availability of economic, industrial and organizational potential, it is associated with certain risks that can be minimized by concluding a commercial concession agreement. The ongoing political events have shown how changes can occur rapidly in all spheres of public life. These circumstances can become a springboard for development, in which a commercial concession agreement can act as an assistant. The article is devoted to the problems of regulation of a commercial concession contract in Russian law, a comparative analysis of Russian legislation and legislation of foreign countries concerning the regulation of the issues under consideration is carried out. The correlation of the concepts of "commercial concession agreement" and "franchising" is made. The etymology of the term "commercial concession" fixed in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation is investigated and its connection with the term "concession agreement" is analyzed. The necessity of presenting strict requirements inherent in the law of some foreign countries to the parties of the contract is denied. The amendments to the Russian civil legislation are reasoned. In order to set a balance between domestic and foreign norms, it is offered to replace the title of Chapter 54 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation "Commercial Concession Agreement" with "Franchise Agreement". The obligations of the copyright holder to assist and control the quality of goods, works, and services under the contract should be formulated in the law in an imperative form. The necessity to supplement the Civil Code of the Russian Federation with a norm granting a user the right of the repudiation from the contract is justified. It also seems appropriate to supplement the articles regulating the obligations of the parties with provisions on disclosure of information by them at the pre-contractual stage of the agreement.