Intermediary Agreements: An Algorithm for Legal Qualification

 In economic circulation, various benefits may not be transferred directly, but with the help of other entities legally related to the original alienator and (or) the final recipient of the relevant item. Such legal relations are often mediated by so-called intermediary agreements, however, there are also other contractual structures that may exist in this situation (contracts for the provision of services, contracts for purchase and sale, contracts for work and labour). In this regard, there is a problem of distinguishing intermediary agreements from other contractual types, as well as various types of intermediary agreements from each other.

In this paper, an algorithm is formulated for typifying the relevant agreement as an intermediary and its subsequent qualification as one of the types of intermediary agreements (assignment agreement, commission agreement, agency agreement).

By means of a formal logical analysis, the authors proposed the following algorithm for qualifying the relevant agreement as an intermediary: 1) the presence of an intermediary element; 2) the content and nature of the task (assignment) that is the subject of the contract; 3) the possibility of involving third parties and the existence of a legal link between them and the ordering party; 4) the procedure for covering the expenses of the performing party.

In mediation agreements: 1) the essence consists in the acquisition of rights and obligations for another person: the original alienator of the corresponding good and/or its acquirer. Rights and obligations are acquired either directly (assignment agreement, agency agreement based on the assignment model), or transferred by an intermediary after they are established on their own behalf (commission agreement, agency agreement based on the commission model); 2) the intermediary is given a task (assignment) to perform legal (or including legal) actions; 3) the intermediary is not responsible to his client for the actions of third parties; 4) the expenses incurred by the intermediary are not included in the latter’s remuneration.