AI-assisted research summary: Brewers may not use agreements or business practices to pressure wholesalers, control resale prices, restrict competing products, or impose certain territory and dispute terms; wholesalers with a sales territory generally may not sell outside it unless all affected parties agree.
1. A brewer shall not commit any of the following actions: a. Induce or coerce, or attempt to induce or coerce, any wholesaler to engage in any illegal act or course of conduct. b. Require a wholesaler to assent to any unreasonable requirement, condition, understanding, or term of an agreement prohibiting a wholesaler from selling the product of another brewer, or prohibiting a wholesaler from utilizing, or requiring a wholesaler to utilize, a business-to-business electronic commerce platform offered by a brewer. If a wholesaler does utilize a business-to-business electronic commerce platform offered by a brewer, the brewer shall not request or receive any information related to a class “A” or special class “A” beer permittee’s sale of competitive products on the business-to-business electronic commerce platform. c. Fix, maintain, or establish the price at which a wholesaler may resell beer, or to change, by any means, the price charged to the wholesaler after beer has been ordered by the wholesaler from the brewer. d. Require any wholesaler to accept delivery of any beer or any other item or commodity which shall not have been ordered by the wholesaler. e. Require a wholesaler without the wholesaler’s approval to participate in an arrangement for the payment or crediting by an electronic fund transfer transaction for any item or commodity other than beer, or to access a wholesaler’s account for any item or commodity other than beer. f. Require or prohibit any change in the manager or successor manager of any wholesaler who has been approved by the brewer as of or subsequent to July 1, 1995, unless the brewer acts in good faith. If a wholesaler changes an approved manager or successor manager, a brewer shall not require or prohibit the change unless the person selected by the wholesaler fails to meet the nondiscriminatory, material, and reasonable standards and qualifications for managers or successor managers consistently applied to similarly situated wholesalers by the brewer. However, the brewer shall have the burden of proving that the person fails to meet the reasonable standards and qualifications. g. Discriminate among the brewer’s wholesalers in any business dealings including, but not limited to, the price of beer sold to the wholesaler or terms of sale offered to wholesalers, unless the difference among its wholesalers is based on reasonable grounds. h. Fail to provide each wholesaler of the brewer’s brand with a written agreement which contains in total the brewer’s agreement with each wholesaler, and designates a specific exclusive sales territory. The terms of written agreements executed, amended, or renewed after July 1, 1995, shall be consistent with this chapter, and this chapter may be incorporated by reference in the agreement. i. Enter into an additional agreement with any other wholesaler for, or to sell to any other wholesaler, the same brand of beer or brand extension in the same territory or any portion of the territory, or to sell directly to any retailer in this state. j. Require a wholesaler to purchase one or more brands of beer in order for the wholesaler to purchase another brand of beer for any reason. k. Require a wholesaler, by any means, directly to participate in or contribute to any local or national advertising fund controlled directly or indirectly by a brewer. l. Require by a provision of an agreement or other instrument in connection with the agreement that any dispute arising out of or in connection with the agreement be determined through the application of any other state’s laws, be determined in federal court sitting in a state other than Iowa, or be determined in a state court of a state other than this state. A provision contained in any agreement or other instrument in connection with the agreement which contravenes this section shall be null and void. 2. A wholesaler who, pursuant to an agreement, is granted a sales territory for which the wholesaler is primarily responsible or in which the wholesaler is required to concentrate the wholesaler’s efforts, shall not make any sale or delivery of beer to any retail licensee whose place of business is not within the territory granted to the wholesaler unless agreed upon by all affected parties. 95 Acts, ch 101, §5; 2024 Acts, ch 1068, §1