All businesses are in for a big shake-up. TheTrade Practices Acthas been amended to force businesses to have fair contracts with consumers. Given its importance, it hasn’t received a lot of media coverage. We’ve provided a summary of the new laws here:
If you’re selling to consumers, you need to review your contracts and practices to ensure compliance.
But there’s disappointment. The Rudd Government excluded finance and business-to-business contracts. That is, finance and business-to-business contracts are allowed (by default) to be ‘unfair’.
This is not good enough.
I’ve put together a discussion as to why small businesses, at least, should also be protected from unfair contracts. It’s a longish discussion, but we’re dealing with critical issues, including financial contracts. This goes to the heart of successful business relationships: