The Court of Justice of the European Communities has this morning clarified the position of agents who hold the exclusive rights to distribute a brand within a specified geographical area (in this case, Danone and Kronenbourg, among others): they are not entitled to receive commission on sales transactions carried out in their exclusive area where those transactions were (i) not carried out by them and (ii) not carried out with the direct or indirect involvement of their principals. This is the ruling in Case C‑19/07, a reference from the Cour de cassation (France) in Heirs of Paul Chevassus-Marche v Groupe Danone, Kro beer brands SA (BKSA) and Évian eaux minérales d’Évian SA (SAEME). The reference had sought interpretation of the meaning of Article 7(2) of Council Directive 86/653 on the coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents. Remarkably, the Court only received the reference on 23 January 2007 and has been able to respond to it within a single calendar year.