Is Christies International Real Estate obligated to provide an explanation of the approval criteria to franchisees?

We consider a variety of factors when considering which suppliers we will deem as approved suppliers, such as price, service, quality, warranty, delivery terms, ability to provide products and services that meet our specifications, responsiveness, and other commercially reasonable benchmarks. If you want to use a material, supply, equipment, product or sign that we have not yet approved, or you want to purchase any items from any supplier that we have not approved, you must first notify us in writing and must submit to us, at our request, sufficient information, specifications, and samples for us to determine whether the services, material, supply, equipment, product or sign complies with our specifications and standards, or whether the supplier meets our approved supplier criteria. We reserve the right to approve or disapprove without any obligation to provide an explanation of the approval criteria to you. Within 90 days of receiving your request, we will either accept or reject the proposed item or supplier. You will not distribute or offer for sale any products or services of the proposed supplier until you receive our written approval. We do not charge a fee to evaluate alternative supplier or items. We may revoke our approval of any supplier or item with 30 days' prior written notice to you. Upon receipt of written notice of such revocation, you must cease to purchase from the disapproved supplier(s) or to purchase the disapproved item(s).

Source: Item 8 — RESTRICTIONS ON SOURCES OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES (FDD pages 20–24)