What a MAP Policy Must Contain to Be Enforceable in Practice

Have counsel draft the policy. What follows is the operational half — the clauses that decide whether the document can actually be applied — and it is general information, not legal advice.

The single principle underneath all of it: a minimum advertised price policy is announced, not negotiated. The moment its terms become a bargain with a reseller about what the market will be charged, you are in different and far more dangerous territory.

Scope. Which products, which channels, which territories, and from what date. A policy that says 'our products' will be argued about on the day you need it.

The definition of advertised price. State plainly whether it includes shipping, bundles, coupon codes applied at cart, member pricing, and 'add to cart to see price'. Nearly every dispute lives in this clause.

Carve-outs, published in advance. Clearance windows, discontinued lines, authorised promotional periods, damaged goods. Undeclared exceptions granted informally are how a unilateral policy stops looking unilateral.

The ladder. Notice, cure window, second notice, withdrawal of promotional support, suspension of supply — in that order, in writing, for everyone.

Evidence and notice standards. What you will capture, how you will send notice, and how long a reseller has to respond.

Reservation of unilateral discretion, and no invitation to negotiate. Counsel will phrase this; it must not be softened by your sales team in the covering email.

Uneven application. Pursuing a small reseller while the largest account breaches openly destroys the policy's standing with the channel, and it is precisely the fact pattern used to argue the policy is something other than unilateral. Apply the ladder to your biggest account first if you must prove anything.

Silent exceptions. A phone call granting one house a weekend below the floor, unrecorded, is worth more to an adversary than any number of enforcement letters are worth to you. If an exception is granted, publish it as a carve-out.

Both failures come from the same place: enforcement handled as relationship management rather than as a record. The record is the policy.

The Price Covenant keeps the operational half — the sweep, the evidence, the ladder walked in order, the tally that shows the channel enforcement was even.

It does not draft your policy and it does not replace counsel. It makes the policy counsel drafts into something that can be applied on a Tuesday without a meeting.