Our business is that of sale and distribution of products and we act as agents for a number of principles. In the event of us taking over the distribution of products from a previous distributor, does this represent a TUPE transfer for the previous distributor's employees or is this exempt as we are not providing a service?

The law on transfer of undertakings in Ireland is governed by the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003 (the “TUPE Regulations”). These regulations implemented the European Communities Acquired Rights Directive. 

For the purposes of responding to this query we will refer to the outsourcing principle as “P”, the original distributor as “D” and the potential new distributor (i.e. the entity posing the question) as “B”. 

The outsourcing of services from P to D in the first instance is known as a “first generation transfer” for the purpose of the TUPE Regulations. If B takes over the services from D, as outlined in the query, this