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ARTICLE · 20 NOVEMBER 2017

Unfair contract terms - whats actually unfair?

Marque Lawyers
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Businesses need to consider any terms in their contracts that could impose onerous terms on small business customers.

AustraliaCorporate/Commercial Law
Georgia Horovitz
Georgia Horovitz
Kim Middleton
Kim Middleton
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Back in November 2016, the ACCC published a report introducing a new framework aimed at protecting small businesses by identifying areas of concern (i.e. unfair provisions) in standard form contracts.

We now have some substantive guidance as to what a court considers to be "unfair" in the context of this framework. In a recent decision, the Federal Court dealt with one of Australia's largest privately-owned waste management firms, JJ Richards & Sons' (JJR), and found that the T&C's in its standard- form contract contained a number of provisions that were prejudicial to small businesses. As a result, where the other party to the contract was a small business, the offending provisions in all JJR's supply contracts for waste collection services were declared void.

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