Australian Consumer Law is a uniform law nationally, meant to protect the consumer and help them have a fair trading environment. It has three general protections which are; specific bans on unconscionable conduct in some business transactions and consumer transactions, and a general ban on unconscionable conduct in commerce or trade, a general ban on deceptive or misleading conduct in commerce or trade, and a provision that nullifies unfair contract terms in consumer contracts . This paper is a discussion about Australian Consumer Law, focusing on what it is, how it is applied, the difference from the previous law, its sections; specifically section 18, the effect on State laws, and its limits considering the common law application. These are discussed under specific questions as given below.
What is the application of the ACL in Australia? How was the introduction of new legislation important for the whole of Australia? Is the legislation state or Commonwealth legislation?
The Australian Consumer law is single national law about fair trading and consumer protection. It is uniform in each State and Territory, as well as nationally. This law was implemented in January 2011, and provides the consumers with the same expectations and protections about business conduct in Australia. Businesses are also guided by this law about their obligation whenever they operate in Australia. The Australian Consumer Law is a replacement of 20 different national consumer laws and applies as the Commonwealth law of Australia. It clarifies understanding of the law for businesses as well as consumers .
It is an agenda to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, and it is implemented by all Australian courts and tribunals including those of Territo...
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Queensland Government, 2013, Office of Fair Trading: Australian Consumer Law. Retrieved from:
http://www.fairtrading.qld.gov.au/australian-consumer-law.htm---L2
The Law Hand Book, 2013, Australian consumer law. Retrieved from:
http://www.lawhandbook.org.au/handbook/ch12s03s01.php---L6---L5
Toth, R., 2014,The Australian Consumer Law: 10 Key Changes for Australian Business. Retrieved from;
http://www.wisewouldmahony.com.au/index.php?id=314---L4
Wadlow, C., 2011, The Law of Passing-off: Unfair Competition by Misrepresentation, London, Sweet & Maxwell.---L7
Vout, P., 2013, Unconscionability and good faith in business transactions, National Commercial Law Seminar Series. Retrieved from:
http://www.law.monash.edu.au/centres/commercial-law-group/unconscionability-and-good-faith-in-business-transactions-paul-vout.pdf--K2
In the case of Woolworths and Coles, both businesses are being investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for abusing their market power by intimidating suppliers to reduce the price of products so they can buy them for cheap. Due to Woolworths and Coles
The validity of British’s occupation of Australia has been fundamentally shaken. The decision protected Aboriginal people’s cultures and lifestyles to a certain degree. Moreover, it guaranteed that some of the lands they live will not be developed. There were five key issues of importance to legal precedent in the Mabo decision for the recognition of Indigenous peoples’ rights in Australia (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2017). For example, it helps to promote the idea of non-discrimination. From then on, a series of laws had been introduced to help safeguard their standard legal rights and
Since the dawn of time for a society to work it needs to have a level of structure that applies to everyone and is understood by everyone. Australian legal system is broad and complex. It is the nature of the encompassing laws and regulations which reflect how people, organisations and governments behave on the many different levels of operation and these are created to make sure that everyone understands their rights and obligations. There are two sources of Law in Australia: Statute Law regulated by Parliament and comprise of legislations and acts; and Judge-made Law or Common Law where decisions made by judges are based on previous cases.
Legal system is a comprehensive term that is used to confirm the existence of the law; it also explains the law-making process and how this is enforced on everyone. The Australian legal system regulates all level of governments, organisations, and all people whether they are Australian born or have migrated here, and they must obey Australia’s regulations. The legal system here was developed from the United Kingdom’s legal system, as Australia was a colony of the British. At a glance, the British government granted restricted rights to their colonies, including Australia to set local government system. This was intended to developed laws in local area, also to deal with specific situation at that time. As a result, the legal system in each of the colonies started to develop separately. According to Carvan J (2010) the Australian law is adopted from several sources, including the rules of equity, parliamentary laws, delegated legislations, judge-made laws, and international laws. (Austrlian Legal System, 2007)
For M2, I will analyse how consumers are protected in breach of contract of law for supply and sales of good or service by legislation like Sales of Good act 1979 which imposes responsibility to the seller to make sure products are good quality. Also, I will be explaining the limitation of this legislation in protecting customers from defected products.
Even though consumers have great protection rights in Australian Customer Law, they have to understand that this law is designed to provide consumers and sellers a fair go. Therefore, consumers also have to be aware that they will not be protected if they are careless and make unreasonable demands.
The decision in Equuscorp is significant, as it has made clear several principles that were once ambiguous under Australian law. It ratifies that restitutionary remedies are unavailable for a claim for money had and received where recovery would reduce coherence in the law. Furthermore, Equuscorp has confirmed that a bare cause of action can be assigned where the assignee has a genuine commercial interest in its enforcement.
Australia, commercially would be at an advantage if contract law was codified. The common law system which contracts calls home, can only take on so many avenues and limits itself when stretched to cover new areas. There needs to be a national set of laws governing contracts on the commercial front and in general areas to overcome discrepancies across borders. However there still remains inconsistency with consumers, minors and business trade through contracts made online. The digital economy is not only one of the fastest growing areas but is forever changing and is definitely a prospect that needs to be covered. Effective legal safeguards against undue exploitation and advantage-taking in such online dealings would see Australian contract law remain in the global arena. The Australian public need greater stability and certainty from contract law, and codification is a step towards fulfilling that void by allowing citizens to be well equipped and educated on their rights and decisions.
Although it is required to consider the common law rule, principles and to apply settled laws to new facts. The court is also restricted by different legal doctrines of precedent, separation of powers and the court is required to make Australia laws remain predictable and certain.
Rice, S (2011) ‘Reflections on reforming discrimination laws in Australia’, Human Rights law Centre, viewed 4 October 2011, .
Recognizing what the law stipulates is extremely important. It protects an individual from suffering injustice committed by others consciously or unknowingly. In business dealing, contract law is commonly cited as a guidance on how the deal will be sealed. This law is so fundamental that every business person must be recognize the elements of this law. An individual can be tricked into entering a contract or be lied that they have a contract and in the process end up losing millions. To this end, both sellers and buyers should consider seeking legal advice when met with a new situation. With time, people have developed new ways of tricking people into signing a contract. Having signed this contract, an individual may be
...nvincing reforms such as the peer review panels in order to limit the potential biases that are mentioned above. However, these reforms do not remove the flaws within the Commission entirely. Several scholars have criticized its ineffectiveness and confirm how the faults remain in the system. Wills argues that such peer review does not apply to every single case; it only applies to 101 TEFU “where appropriate”, certainty not in cartel cases. Secondly, the commissioners are not prevented from discussion of the matter with the investigators while the case is under adjudication. This criticism is worth to be analyzed in more detail, a final decision of the proceedings are made by the college of commissioners who would receive a proposal from the Competition Commissioner, who would have been briefed by DG Competition officials, such as Chief Competition Economist and
The plaintiff firm of surveyors bought a second-hand Rolls Royce from the defendants which developed serious defects after 2,000. It was held that the firm was acting as a consumer and that to buy in the course of a business 'the buying of cars must form at the very least an integral part of the buyer's business or a necessary incidental thereto'. It was emphasised that only in those circumstances could the buyer be said to be on equal footing with his seller in terms of bargaining strength.
...‘Consideration: Practical benefit and the Emperor’s new clothes’ in Beatson and Friedmann (eds). Good Faith and Fault in Contract Law (Oxford University Press, 1995);
Thus, consumer protection laws, prohibit unfair or defective acts from being practiced by companies.