Commerce Commission test drives new unfair contract terms regime

The Commerce Commission's recently released telecommunications contract review provides a first look at the implementation approach it is taking to the unfair contract terms regime that came into effect in March last year.

Next in the gun are standard form consumer contracts in the electricity retail, credit and gym sectors, reports on which will be completed this year.

Although most of the telcos conducted their own reviews in advance of the Fair Trading Act reforms, the Commission still uncovered a number of issues in the contracts it examined.

The Commission reviewed the standard form contracts of seven telcos, making up more than 94% of the fixed-line retail market and nearly 100% of the mobile retail market. The report identified 66 potentially unfair terms in the 19 contracts it reviewed.