Recent announcements by Federal Small Business Minister, Craig Emerson, regarding unconscionable conduct and franchising laws fail small businesses and franchisees, according to Associate Professor Frank Zumbo, Competition and Consumer Law Expert at the University of New South Wales.
Mr Zumbo claims that the new announcements are just spin and offer no effective action on issues of fundamental concern to small businesses and franchisees, saying “The announcements are a huge disappointment and fail to address the underlying gaps and problems with the existing unconscionable conduct and franchising lawsâ€.
The existing unconscionable conduct laws do not have a clear definition of what amounts to unconscionable conduct, which has resulted in the Courts giving a very narrow and onerous interpretation to the concept of unconscionable conduct.