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Exactly the judge has to start supplying software to Cuban state-owned companies again, writes the NRC. The company no longer wanted to do so because of the strict American sanctions legislation.

Exact worked together with the Curaçao-based PAM International. PAM International was founded in 1996 to distribute Exact’s software in Cuba.

Exactly now, however, is being taken over by the American investment company KKR, which was reason enough to stop this cooperation with immediate effect. The company from Delft referred to the American legislation, which states that American companies are not allowed to trade with Cuba.

For PAM International, the suspended cooperation is a hard blow. Because of the complicated structure around licences in Cuba, it would take years for the company to get permission to supply other software in the country.

Judgement

PAM International decided to go to court, to enforce a continuous cooperation. Exactly what this is not possible at all, however, is that American sanctions legislation is very strict and is aggressively enforced. As a result, according to the company, there is a case of force majeure.

The judge did not find this a good argument. According to the court, KKR made a deliberate choice when it took over Exact. Any subsequent problems in the US should not be put on the PAM board. According to the judge, that’s their own risk.

In addition, Exactly possible violates the Economic Offences Act by complying with U.S. law. This Dutch law states that Dutch companies must comply with the European anti-boycott regulation of 1996, which states that European companies are not allowed to comply with American sanctions over Cuba.

Termination of contract

Exactly now the judge has to comply with the distribution agreement within fourteen days. If the company does not do so, it will receive a penalty payment of 10,000 euros per day. There’s a maximum of 500,000 euros on that.

The agreement can be terminated, but the court must do so in a reasonable manner. According to the court, terminating the contract with immediate effect or with effect from 5 October – which is exactly what Exactly suggested – is not reasonable. The judge did not say what is a reasonable period of time.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.