§ 172.004.Commercial Agreement

The other half of the gateway, and it is written as an open list.

The test is the nature of the relationship — whether the agreement arises out of a relationship of a commercial nature.

The examples that follow do not limit it. The section says including, so a relationship of a commercial nature qualifies whether or not it is named.

Trade relationships lead the list: a transaction for the supply or exchange of goods or services, a distribution agreement, a commercial representation or agency.

Investment structures follow — an exploitation agreement or concession, and a joint venture or other related form of industrial or business cooperation.

Transport is named across every mode: carriage of goods or passengers by air, sea, rail or road.

Then comes the longest item, a list of relationships involving construction, insurance, licensing, factoring, leasing, consulting, engineering, financing, banking, professional services, and intellectual or industrial property including trademarks, patents, copyrights and software.

The list closes with the transfer of data or technology.

The breadth is deliberate. The point is to keep courts from narrowing "commercial" to sales of goods, which would leave most modern cross-border business outside the chapter.

Both gates must be passed. An agreement must be commercial under this section and international under Section 172.003 for the chapter to apply.