We hope you found our update on the new rules for supply chain agreements helpful. MMS is offering a healthcheck to ensure that our clients' agreements are robust.

Existing Agreements

For existing agreements there are both risks and opportunities arising from the new rules:

• the new buyer market share condition means that some agreements which were enforceable may now be unenforceable
  
  
• matters on which there was no clear guidance e.g. internet retailing and category management are clearer and there may be an opportunity to reflect this in your agreements.

Companies have until 1 June 2011 to ensure existing agreements comply with the new rules. Therefore, it is worth checking your agreements. Use our self assessment to identify which agreements are at risk.

Using the MMS Healthcheck

We have tried to make the check as pain free as possible:

• Use the self assessment to identify affected agreements (we would be happy to help with this assessment if this is an area where you are not familiar)
  
  
• Complete the information request to provide us with essential background information which will not be apparent from the agreement itself
  
  
• Send affected agreements and completed information request to us for a check up.
  
  

Part 1: Client Self Assessment
Click here to view Part 1. 

Click here to view Part 2.

The healthcheck involves MMS identifying any provisions which are at risk of unenforceability under competition law, providing options for managing these risks and providing an estimate for MMS following through on those options, for example by redrafting the provisions.

How Much Will This Cost?

If this is an agreement on which MMS previously advised and the response to the information request contains all relevant information we will do the healthcheck free of charge.

If we have not advised before and the response to the information request contains all relevant information we will do a healthcheck for the fixed price of £500 per agreement or group of agreements with similar terms.