People are often surprised that a director, employee or anyone involved in a breach of certain provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 Cth (the "Act") can be liable for those breaches. It is often mistakenly believed that, as the franchisor is a company, the people working for or on behalf of the company cannot be personally liable. If a person, amongst other things, has "aided, abetted, counseled or procured a person to contravene"  or "ha...

There are no hard set rules defining when conduct is unconscionable. More often than not, we look to case law to help to determine if certain conduct is unconscionable. Behaviour held to be unconscionable In a recent case* brought by the ACCC against a franchisor, its director and one of its employees the Court held that, amongst other things, the following behaviour of the franchisor was unconscionable: 1. failing to pay the franchisee for work it had completed when the cu...

Surprisingly, Australia is one of the most franchised nations in the World. With Australians embracing franchising so much, potential franchisees are spoilt for choice. So, how do you choose the franchise system to invest in? Below is a checklist of some of the matters potential franchisees should be considering in their decision making process. 1. Self-Audit Firstly, a potential franchisee should assess whether they are made to be franchisees. Generally speaking a ...