We now have all of the requirements of the FTC's Amended Franchise Rule being implemented.

All franchisors should be complying with the Amended Rule's disclosure requirements, and most franchisors who have sales activities in the registration states are now doing battle with the state examiners, as they test the procedures and borders of the revised disclosure requirements. That brings to mind two topics of discussion, one of which I will address below, and the other (a look at the overall system for regulating franchise sales disclosure) I will save for another column.

Today's subject: How are the state examiners reacting to the changes in franchise disclosure/registration?

Answer: I can't respond to this question from the examiner's viewpoint, but from this practitioner's standpoint, not well...

The Government of Afghanistan is currently reviewing a bill that would reform and modernize the country's contract law. Afghanistan is a civil code jurisdiction and, currently, contracts are governed by sections of the country's Civil Code (dating from 1976) and Commercial Code (dating from 1955). Both the 1976 Civil Code and the 1955 Commercial Code are based on the laws of Egypt, which in turn are based on French civil law. During the period following the Soviet invasion, and the subsequent civil war in Afghanistan, little attention was paid to updating or modernizing these Afghanistan statutes.

Commercial law reform has been a priority for Afghanistan's new President, Hamid Karzai. The Minister of Commerce, Sayed Mustafa Kazemi, has repeatedly stressed the Government's commitment to transforming Afghanistan into a free-market economy with minimal barriers to entry for foreign investors; Mr...

Korea's first franchise law, the Fair Franchise Transactions Act (the "FFTA") was adopted May 2002, effective Nov. 2002. Its Presidential Enforcement Decree - setting forth detailed information to be provided in the franchise information disclosure statement and a description of concrete types of unfair transactions broadly prohibited under FFTA - was promulgated Nov. 2002 (last amended June 2003). In the Korean system, Enforcement Decrees provide detailed instructions for statutory compliance; therefore, it is to be expected that 2004's changes to applicable law will be found in future amendments to the Enforcement Decree.
Closing Loophole on Franchise DisclosureUnder the current law, a franchisor must provide a disclosure statement to a "prospective franchisee" no later than five (5) days prior to the earlier of (i) the franchise agreement's execution or (ii) payment of the franchise fee by the prospective franchisee (FFTA Art...

The past decade saw an acceptance by the Romanian market of the Western concepts of doing business, a new perception of the value of brands and the creation of an entirely new market - the one for franchisers. Seven years have passed since Romania enacted a franchise law. During this period, the market has evolved, and the pioneering period in franchising during which major companies entered the market only for market testing - first performing distribution operations (Coca Cola) or establishing a subsidiary (McDonald's) and only afterwards developing their franchise concepts - has come to an end. Indeed, 60 of the 107 franchises currently operating in Romania have been established during the last two years.

What entices franchisers to come to Romania? Among the countries that are going to be part of the European Union or that are still in the accession process, Romania represents the second largest market, with a population of over 22 million inhabitants...

California has long been a key market for franchising. Its consumer-oriented culture has also made it one of the most active venues for regulatory and legal issues. Legal developments over the past year affecting the franchise community include 1) the cascade of "Bounty Hunter law" actions; 2) a franchisee's escape from arbitration requirements deemed "substantively unconscionable"; and 3) a lesser-known ruling narrowing the interpretation of franchise fees.

1) "Bounty hunter" alert
California's unique wage and hour regulations provide fertile ground for lawsuits. Always vexing for California employers because of rigid and sometimes counterintuitive requirements, wage and hour compliance has become even more critical because of substantial modifications in the laws and their interpretation over the last several years...