Unfair Terms

The Australian Consumer Law (contained in schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (previolusly named the Trade Practices Act) incorporates a national unfair terms regime. More details will follow soon. In the meantime, see ACCC, Australian Consumer Law - A Guide to Unfair Contract Terms (June 2010)

Prior to the national regime only Victoria had adopted unfair terms legisalation. This was contained in its Fair Trading Act 1999 and rendered unfair terms in consumer contracts void (s 32Y). A term was considered unfair if 'contrary to the requirements of good faith and in all the circumstances, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract to the detriment of the consumer' (s 32W). The legislation applied to all consumer contracts, standard form or otherwise. The national regime is restricted to standard form contracts. THe Victorian legislation has been repealed to ensure a nationally consistent approach to unfair terms.

Detailed discussion forthcoming