How agency relationships work under Contracts Law of Cyprus

An agent is a person appointed to do any act for another, or to represent another, in dealings with third parties. The person for whom such an act is done, or who is so represented, is called the principal. Any person who is competent to contract may appoint an agent. Section 145 of the Contracts Law of Cyprus expressly states that no consideration is necessary to create an agency. The authority may be express or implied. An authority is said to be express when it is given orally or in writing, and implied when it is inferred from the circumstances of the case. Oral/written representations or the ordinary course of dealing may be taken into account as circumstances of the case.

Duties owed

The duties owed between the parties to an agency relationship are depicted below. Section 148 encompasses the statutory extent of the agent’s authority to every lawful thing that is necessary to perform the act instructed on by the principal.

Where such an act is the carrying on of the principal’s business, every lawful thing necessary for the purpose or usually done in the course of conducting such business will be included.

In case of emergency, the agent’s authority will extend to all such acts for the purpose of protecting his or her principal from loss as would be done by a person of ordinary prudence under similar circumstances.

Pursuant to section 150, an agent cannot lawfully appoint another to perform an act which the agent has expressly or impliedly undertaken to perform personally, unless by the ordinary custom of trade a sub-agent may, or, from the nature of sub-agency must, be appointed.