Franchisee support: what to include in a franchise agreement in Belarus

The owner of an established business often promises a prospective partner “comprehensive support”, meaning help as and when needed. The partner may understand this as daily involvement from the management team. To build a sustainable franchise network, it is best to resolve this mismatch in expectations before signing any documents. The steps below will help you define support in the agreement, assess the workload for your team and prevent disputes after the first franchised outlet opens.

1. Separate legal obligations from marketing promises

Belarus has no standalone franchising law, but franchise relationships are specifically governed by the Civil Code. Article 910 defines the comprehensive business licence agreement — the legal form used for franchising in Belarus. Article 910-1 requires the agreement to be in writing and registered with the patent authority, the National Centre of Intellectual Property (NCIP). Failure to register makes the agreement invalid.

The Civil Code also regulates the rights holder’s obligations, including the provision of necessary documentation and information, and instruction for the user and its employees. Ongoing technical and advisory assistance, including help with staff training, is an obligation of the rights holder unless the agreement provides otherwise. A legal review should therefore cover not only the rights granted but also the terms of support.

Do not use “support on request” as a substitute for a service description. It says nothing about deadlines, who will do the work or the outcome. When preparing your first franchise offering, gather all the promises made in presentations, correspondence and commercial proposals. Against each one, note where it appears in the agreement and who can deliver it.

For example, “we will help you choose premises” could mean a remote assessment of the layout, a site visit by a specialist or a full property search. Choose a realistic scope of work and describe it consistently across all materials. A franchisor’s assessment of premises should not be presented as a guarantee of approvals, permits or commercial success.

2. Draw up a schedule with specific deliverables

It is useful to set out support in a separate schedule to the agreement. This is not an operations manual: rather than describing how the outlet works, it specifies what the management team undertakes to do for the partner.

Use the same set of fields for each service:

• Scope: what action the rights holder will take.
• Deliverable: what the partner will receive — an assessment, a training session, advice or access to a system.
• Prerequisites: what documents, data or staff input the partner must provide.
• Timescale: what triggers the start of the period and when the task must be completed.
• Limits: what the agreed support covers and what must be commissioned separately.
• Evidence: what document or record will confirm completion.

Divide the list into pre-opening preparation and ongoing operations. Before opening, support may include a premises assessment, manager training and an outlet readiness check. After opening, it may include advice, performance reviews and help with implementing updates.

For training, specify the categories of participants, format, syllabus, assessment process and arrangements for repeat training. Separately define what happens when a trained employee leaves: whether their replacement receives access to the materials, whether another session is required and who pays any additional costs.

Do not include services simply to make the offer more attractive. First check whether your company has the expertise, time and tools to complete each task if several partners request help at once.

3. Set up a process for requests and completion records

Even a detailed list of services is ineffective without a clear process for working together. Designate a primary channel for requests, such as a business email address or a ticketing system. A messaging app can still be used for urgent notifications, but important decisions should be recorded in the agreed channel.

Distinguish between the initial response time and the resolution time. Acknowledging a request does not mean a fault has been fixed. For issues that depend on an external supplier, require progress updates and information about the next step rather than promising an outcome you cannot control.

Define priority levels. An interruption to sales and a request to review a seasonal display call for different responses. Specify support hours, the procedure for out-of-hours requests and a backup contact if the main specialist is unavailable.

Keep completion records proportionate to the task. For training, suitable evidence includes the syllabus, a participant list and assessment results. For advice, keep a record of the request and written recommendations. For a site visit, prepare a report setting out the problems identified and the actions agreed. If you use formal service acceptance certificates, agree a review period and a process for submitting reasoned objections.

Set out the partner’s obligations: to provide accurate data, ensure staff participation and appoint a contact person. Both parties should understand the consequences of delays in providing the information needed to start work; these should not give the rights holder an unrestricted right to extend deadlines.

4. Agree how breaches will be remedied and support changed

Before signing, discuss not only normal operations but also what happens when things go wrong. What if training is postponed, an adviser is unavailable or the partner considers a service undelivered? Set out the sequence: notification, investigation of the circumstances, a deadline for remedying the issue and any further contractual consequences.

Liability should be linked to a specific breach. Do not replace an obligation to provide training with a promise to guarantee profit. Financial performance also depends on how the outlet is managed, demand and the partner’s costs; support should have its own verifiable quality criteria.

Establish a procedure for amending the schedule. Technology updates may require new training, but should not quietly remove previously agreed assistance. Amendments to franchise agreements also require registration. Before preparing a revised version, check the necessary steps and current NCIP requirements with a Belarusian lawyer.

Practical takeaway: before selling your first franchise, prepare a support schedule and test it against several typical requests. If each has a clear person responsible, deliverable, deadline and record of completion, partners will have far fewer grounds for disagreement over what support includes.