Cyprus - Andreas Neocleous & Co

CYP/20
INTERNATIONAL AGENCY AND DISTRIBUTION LAW
• The principal being adjudicated bankrupt or insolvent under the provisions of
any law relating to bankruptcy or insolvency.
Bowstead on Agency sets out the following circumstances in which the actual
authority of an agent is revoked; they are often cited by courts in Cyprus:
• By agreement between the parties;
• If for a limited period, by the expiration of that period or, in any case, after a
certain time has elapsed which is reasonable in all the circumstances;
• By the occurrence of an event, the occurrence of which it is agreed between
the principal and the agent that the authority shall determine or on the
occurrence of which the agent should reasonably infer that the principal does
not or would not wish the authority to continue;
• By the destruction of the subject matter of the agency; or
• By the happening of any event rendering the agency or its objects unlawful or
impossible or otherwise frustrating the agency or its objects.
Furthermore, section 162 of the Contract Law provides that where the agent has
himself an interest in the property which forms the subject matter of the agency,
the agency cannot, in the absence of an express contract, be terminated to the
prejudice of such interest.
Subject to this provision, the principal may revoke the agent's authority any time
before the authority has been exercised so as to bind the principal. If the agent's
authority was partly exercised, the principal cannot revoke that agent's authority
concerning acts and obligations arising from acts already undertaken by the
agent.
The Contract Law provides that where there is an express or implied contract that
the agency should continue for any period of time, the parties must compensate
each other (as the case may be) for any premature revocation or renunciation of
the agency (which may be expressed or implied by the conduct of the principal or
agent), without sufficient cause.
The parties are obliged to give to each other reasonable notice of such
revocation or renunciation and unless they do so any resulting damage must be
made good to the one by the other. 30 The termination of the agent's authority
does not take effect before it becomes known to him and before it becomes
known to third parties. When an agent's authority is terminated, it also causes
the termination of authority of all sub-agents appointed by him.
If the agency is terminated because of the principal's death or unsoundness of
mind, the agent is bound to take, on behalf of the representatives of his late
principal, all reasonable steps to protect and preserve the interests entrusted to
him.
30 Kazinos & Co v Letraset (Export), 1982.
(Release 2 – 2013)