The practical consequences of unconscionable conduct by franchisors

The practical consequences of unconscionable conduct by franchisors

The results of the Federal Court proceedings in ACCC v Allphones Retail Pty Limited [2011], give an insight into the operation of the unconscionable conduct provisions in the new Australian Consumer Law ( ACL). Declarations were obtained by the ACCC against Allphones, its CEO and COO for various contraventions of the TPA, including unconscionable conduct provisions. The types of conduct which the ACCC considered to be unconscionable conduct include:

• penalising franchisees who failed to meet KPIs without due consideration to individual circumstances of those franchisees, where such KPIs had not been appropriately communicated to them;