English abstract
This thesis aims at studying car distribution agency contracts that are regulated by the Commercial Agency Law. A number of relevant issues like the legal nature of commercial agency between car manufacturers and their exclusive distributers in Oman and their effects on the contractual relationship between the car dealers and the buyer are addressed. Besides, the paper highlights aspects of criminal and civil liabilities in fraud and product defects.
The researcher arrives at a number of findings. Most important of which is that distribution agency is one type of commercial agency contracts in which the distributor purchases cars from the manufacturer and then resells them under its name at a higher prizes. Therefore, the contractual relationship between the distributor and the buyer is of purchase contract nature that is separate from his relationship with the manufacturer; thus, the distributor - being the seller – bears the civil and the criminal liabilities arising from cases of car fraud or arising from the detection of product defects under the guarantee.
To remedy these issues, the researcher puts forward a list of recommendations including reconsidering the penalty element in the Commercial Agency Law to make it consistent with the nature of the profession and amending some articles of the new Consumer Protection Law.
