The disclosure document is the centrepiece of franchise law in Canada. In those provinces which have franchise legislation, franchisors are required to provide prospective franchisees with a sufficient amount of background on the system via the disclosure document so that those prospects can make informed investment decisions about whether they want to become a franchisee or not.
One of the tenets of franchise law is that, while containing all the requisite pieces of information which the legislation requires, disclosure documents must also be “clear and concise.†Conciseness is generally anathema to lawyers, and those who practice in franchising are no exception. As a result, it is not uncommon to come across disclosure documents that are anywhere from 100 – 400 pages long, depending on the number of attachments to the main document. Full article.