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ARTICLE · 07 AUGUST 2013

ACCC and Federal Court crack down on unfair contract terms

Cooper Grace Ward
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Businesses that use standard form contracts must review their provisions to ensure they would not be considered unfair.

AustraliaConsumer Protection
David Grace
David Grace
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Federal Court have recently demonstrated that they will take a strong stance against businesses that use unfair terms in their standard form consumer contracts.

The transition from a compliance-based focus to an enforcement-based approach has been in action since the March 2013 ACCC report on unfair contract terms, where the ACCC set out a number of problematic commonly used terms that it would focus on as a priority this year.

The ACCC illustrated its enforcement-based approach in its recent action against ByteCard Pty Limited (ByteCard), an internet service provider. The ACCC instigated proceedings against the company alleging that a number of provisions in its standard form consumer contract were unfair and prohibited by the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

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