Legal advice on changes to consumer law, unfair contract terms from Donaldson Walsh Lawyers

Donaldson Walsh Lawyers report that proposed changes to consumer law under the Trade Practices Amendment Act 2009 have taken effect from 1st July, 2010, and offer some legal advice for business owners.

The amendments will, among other things, significantly alter the relationship between suppliers and consumers, and will render unfair contract terms in consumer contracts void.

While this bill was being passed, some changes were made to it by the Senate, most notable of which was an amendment to the definition of an unfair contract term to include the requirement that it would cause detriment (financial or otherwise) to a party if it were to be applied or relied on.

As a result of this amendment, the consideration relating to detriment has been removed from the list of considerations that a Court must take into account in determining whether a term of a consumer contract is unfair.

Wether a specific term in a consumer contract is considered to be unfair, and whether a specific contract can be classified as a consumer contract, will be matters of statutory interpretation, so Donaldson Walsh Lawyers advise that business owners seek legal advice should this be a concern.

Business to business contracts will not generally fall within the category of a consumer contract.

Donaldson Walsh Lawyers suggests that any business owner involved in the retail industry, residential leasing or any other industry where clients and customer bases include individual persons who acquire goods, services or interests for personal, domestic or household use or consumption should review their contracts and seek legal advice to ensure that any terms within those contracts will not be rendered void by the operation of the Act.