The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission
(ACCC) has taken court action against JJ Richards
& Sons Pty Ltd (JJ Richards), a major
Australian waste collection business, alleging that a number of
clauses in its standard form waste collection contracts with small
businesses are unfair. This is the first time the consumer watchdog
has taken action to enforce the new unfair contract terms
provisions in the Australian Consumer Law (ACL)
for a small business contract, since the law was extended to
protect small businesses on 12 November 2016.
What happened?
On 6 September 2017, the ACCC initiated proceedings in the
Federal Court against JJ Richards, one of Australia's largest
privately owned waste management companies. It alleges that eight
clauses in JJ Richards' standard form commercial waste
collection contract are 'unfair' under the ACL and
therefore void when contracting with small businesses. The clauses
in question:
