The Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce invites its members to attend an exclusive briefing on how to navigate business through the regulatory changes affecting you.
The compliance risk of relying on standard form contracts to conduct business in Australia is set to significantly increase in 2023. With an expanded class of contracts soon to be covered, plus 'unfair' contract terms to be prohibited and subject to penalty rather than merely void, it's time to reconsider whether your contracts may be caught before changes to the regime come into effect in November 2023.
Key topics covered in the briefing include:
New Penalties:
Unfair contract terms would be unlawful and the business proposing or seeking to rely on them would be exposed to the risk of serious penalties, in line with the maximum penalties under the ACL or the ASIC Act (depending on the type of contract). Currently there are no penalties for unfair contract terms. This will change from November 2023.
Expanded Scope:
For contracts to which the ACL applies, the laws would remove the financial thresholds that currently apply to relevant contracts. Instead, the laws would apply to any standard form contract with a 'small business'. The definition of small business is expanded to capture entities with up 100 employees (increased from 20) or with up to $10 million annual turnover.
New Powers:
Courts would be empowered to make more flexible orders to prevent or reduce loss or damage in relation to the UCT, in addition to the power to impose civil penalties.
The Melbourne briefing is on Wednesday 13 September 2023 from 6pm at VACC House, 650 Victoria Street, North Melbourne or attend onliine.
Register to attend.