The franchise agreement is a contract by which the owner of a trademark or commercial sign grants the right of his exploitation to a physical or legal person named franchisee and this for the purpose of distributing products or providing services for fees.

The franchisor is required to provide the franchisee with a draft contract and an information document relating to the franchisor and its sector of activity within a minimum period of 20 days before signing the contract.

I-Obligatory clauses in the franchise agreements :

The Franchise agreement must include the rights and obligations of the franchisor and the franchisee, and particularly the following clauses:

• The services rendered by the franchisor to the franchisee, in particular those regarding the transfer of experience acquired, knowledge and the exploitation of intellectual property rights
• The required royalties of the franchisee
• The duration of the contract and the conditions of its renewal
• The operating conditions of the trade mark or commercial sign
• The terms of termination of the contract
• Exclusive supply clauses
• Non-competition clauses
• The delimitation of the exclusive geographical area of exploitation of the trade mark or sign
• The obligation of the franchisee to keep the confidentiality of the data disclosed to him by the franchisor
• The investment plan to be executed by the franchisee
• The conditions of distribution of the advertising expenses
• The communication to the franchisor of data relating to the sale and the financial situation of the franchisee
• The authorization procedures of the franchisor or his delegates to access the premises of the franchisee
• The possibility for the beneficiary of an exclusive representation contract covering the entire territory of the Republic of Tunisia to conclude franchise agreements with franchisees covering limited geographical areas.

II-Mandatory particulars in the franchisor’s information document:

The franchise agreement must be accompanied by an information document about the franchisor and its sector of activity and in particular:

• The legal form of the enterprise and the nature of its activity
• The identity of the franchisor and his address for the physical person
• The identity of the legal representative, the address of the registered office, the list of directors and the capital for legal entities
• The history of the company
• The registration number in the trade register or any equivalent data
• Proof of the property rights of the trade mark or sign
• The data relating to the entry in the national register of marks
• Data on the network of franchisees
• Lists of the network of franchisees in Tunisia, their addresses, the date of joining the network and the list of franchisees excluded from the network
• The data on the line of business of the company and the opportunities of development of
  this sector in the zones where the mark is represented as well as in Tunisia
• Specification of the nature, amount of expenditure and specific investments of the
  trade mark or the commercial sign
• The financial statements of the company
• Franchise contracts must not contain anti-competitive clauses relating to:
  • • The imposition of resale or service prices, the fixing of a minimum turnover.