Clauses which limit the freedom to operate of the retailer after the end of the contract must be limited to a period of one year.
Clauses which limit the freedom to operate of the retailer after the end of the contract must be limited to a period of one year. Otherwise, they must be deemed unwritten, and are therefore not enforceable in accordance with Article L.341-2 of the French Commercial Code.
This is the reasoning applied in a decision dated June 1, 2020 by the Paris Court of Appeals, to a clause obliging the franchisee of a car wash network, without any time limitation, to stop using the blue and white colors appearing in the franchisor’s logo, after the end of the contractual relationship.