Back in November 2022, the Commonwealth Government passed
the Treasury Laws Amendment (More Competition, Better
Prices) Act 2022 (Cth) to broaden the scope of existing
unfair contract terms (UCT) regime.
The new UCT regime expands coverage to small businesses from
having fewer than 20 employees to up to 100 employees or having
annual turnover of less than $10 million. We anticipate more
construction contracts will now become subject to the new UCT
regime.
Under the new UCT regime, should a term in a standard form small
business or consumer contract be found unfair, the courts may:
- void, vary or refuse to enforce the particular term or the
whole contract;
- prevent the same or substantially similar term from being
included in any future standard form small business or consumer
contracts; and
