Introduction of Competition and Consumer Act
Effective 1 January 2011, the Trade Practices Act 1974
(Cth) (TPA) was renamed the Competition and
Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA). As well as the
name change, the CCA introduced substantial changes to consumer
law, including expanding the unfair practice provisions, creating a
new national product safety regime and introducing new laws on
consumer guarantees. It is designed to create a unified national
consumer law (the Australian Consumer Law or ACL) to apply to
consumer transactions in all Australian jurisdictions.
How this affects you
The CCA is one of the most wide-reaching pieces of commercial
legislation; it is critical that you are aware of how the new
regime will affect your business. While a name or section change
may seem insignificant, these changes can potentially impact on the
enforceability of your consumer contracts and other documents.
We recommend that you conduct a review of all documents
referring to the TPA and amend those references to the new CCA.
Documents that will need to be reviewed include leases, mortgages,
goods and services contracts, supply contracts (including standard
form terms and conditions of supply), commercial contracts and
other transactional documents that typically refer to the TPA.
If your business involves sales to consumers (as opposed to
sales to other businesses), the new Act may necessitate substantial
modification to your sale documents.
How we can help
We can review and update all your consumer contracts and other
documents to ensure they comply with the provisions of the CCA. We
can also provide more detailed advice on how the introduction of
the CCA affects your business.
For more information on the operation of the CCA and possible
implications for your business, or to arrange for a review of your
business-consumer documents, please contact:
John Hutchings, Chairman of Partner
Phone (direct): +61 3 9608 2245
Email:
j.hutchings@cornwalls.com.au
or
Dean Katz, Lawyer
Phone (direct): +61 3 9608 2253
Email:
d.katz@cornwalls.com.au
(Authored by Sally Bast, Cornwall Stodart)