Local agent

Local agent
See also
Commercial value Commercial agent Forwarder Self funding In-House Financing Managing agent Teleworking Material misrepresentation Sole agent

Local agent is person appointed by another - the principal - to act on his or her behalf, usually to negotiate a contract between the principal and the third party. Agents are paid commission on the sales that they make, based on a percentage value (Cambridge Business English Dictionary, 2011, s.22).

The agent is obliged in particular to provide all information relevant to the principal and to follow his instructions justified in the given circumstances, as well as to undertake, in the scope of conducted cases, activities necessary to protect the principal's rights. The agent - the recipient of the order - is a party to the agency contract, in which he undertakes, within the scope of his business, to perform specific activities on behalf of or on behalf of the principal, with adequate remuneration. The agent's main duty is to act for and in the interest of the principal, which will allow him to conclude contracts with clients. As an example, it should be pointed out that these activities may consist in particular of: searching for potential contractors and acquainting them with the profile of the activity giving the order to the entrepreneur or collecting and presenting offers. However, the agent's representative duty is to conclude contracts with clients on account and on behalf of the principal (Article 760, 2019, s.153).

Other type of local agent

From the point of view of consumer rights, three types of agents can be distinguished in insurance. These are of course insurance agents, insurance brokers as also multiagents (Borkowski A., 2012, s. 48):

• An insurance agent is an entrepreneur who has an agency contract with the insurer. Through an agency contract, the agent undertakes, to permanently mediate, for remuneration, when concluding contracts with clients for the principal or the entrepreneur to conclude them on his behalf. The agent is obliged to be loyal to the principal.
• In contrast to the insurance agent, the relationship between the insurance broker and the person seeking insurance coverage is regulated. The main difference is the different location of the insurance broker. It works on behalf of the seeker of insurance coverage. An insurance agent may conclude more than one agency contract and therefore represent insurers offering products that offer similar or the same insurance coverage.
• Multiagents are insurance agents who work for two or more insurance companies. They represent the insurer operating on the basis of an agency contract.

Agent and multi-agent

Terms of agent and multi-agent are used by many people who work in closely related areas but do not have one universal definition. Some attributes of agent are similar in many literatures (Chitsaz M., Seng W., 2013, s. 222):

• Autonomy: Agents accomplish their aim without the direct interposition of human, control over their actions and internal state.
• Social Ability: Agents cooperate with other agents.
• Pro-activeness: Having ability to exhibit goal directed behaviour by taking the initiative.
• Robustness: Be prepared to learn and to recover from failure.

The other properties of agent which relate to its context are mobility, veracity, benevolence, and rationality.

References

• Article 760, 'Civil Code', (2019), Dz. U. Nr 16 poz. 93, s.153,
• Borkowski A., (2012),Consumer protection on the insurance market, 'Insurance news No. 2' s.46,
• Cambridge Business English Dictionary, (2011), Cambridge University Press, s.22,
• Chitsaz M., Seng W. (2013), Medical Image Segmentation using a Multi-Agent System Approach, 'The International Arab Journal of Information Technology', No. 3, s.222,
• Smith D., Lawson R. D., Painter A. A. (2012), Business Law, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, s.112

Author: Kamila Nosalska, Małgorzata Maziarz, Paulina Korpała