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Amendments to Small Business Protections under the Trade Practices Act
Written by: Meredith DorhamArticle Overview: Section 51AC of the Trade Practices Act (TPA) protects small business by prohibiting a corporation from engaging in unconscionable conduct when dealing in supply or acquisition of goods or services with any person or corporation, other than a listed company. It is specifically targeted at small business consumers.
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Amendments to Small Business Protections under the Trade Practices Act
Recent TPA Amendments
The recent amendments to the TPA have widened the scope of the application of this provision by increasing the transactional threshold from $3 million to $10 million, thereby protecting a greater range of transactions entered into by small businesses. Although the section is meant to protect small businesses, it arguably still may be enforced by medium and even larger corporations provided they are not publicly listed. This increased threshold will extend the application of the section to significantly more business transactions.
What constitutes unconscionable conduct?
Section 51 AC currently provides the court with a number of procedural factors to be considered when determining whether a corporation has engaged in unconscionable conduct. These factors include:
the bargaining position of the party;
undue influence or pressure on the small business consumer; and
whether the parties have acted in good faith.
These factors relate to whether the dealings between the parties have been fair and open throughout the course of dealings, particularly in relation to the level of disclosure between the parties.
The TPA amendments also include a new factor to be considered by the court when determining whether a party has engaged in unconscionable conduct. This new factor considers whether a party has a contractual right to unilaterally vary a term of the contract. This replicates a factor under the Fair Trading Act which allows the court, in determining whether a consumer contract contains an unfair term, to consider other factors particularly where a term has the object or effect of permitting the corporation and not the consumer to vary that term.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Tal Williams on (02) 9458 7241 or Andrew Seaton on (02) 9458 7632.
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My entry
- 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read
- this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody.
2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto.
3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book
Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
These maybe the coldest franchises out there:
- Here are the worst 15 performing franchises in regards to having the highest Small Business Administration (SBA) loan failure rates. The list is dotted with sub sandwich shops, fitness centers and car shops.
WORST FRANCHISE LOAN FAILURES Failure %
1 OBEE'S SOUP SALAD SUBS 55.56%
2 LADY OF AMERICA 41.94%
3 COUNTRY CLUTTER (BED & BREAKFAST) 41.18%
4 COPY CLUB 36.36%
5 ALL TUNE AND LUBE 35.71%
6 PICKERMAN'S 35.71%
7 PHILLY CONNECTION 35.59%
8 ROLY POLY ROLLED SANDWICHES 34.78%
9 COTTMAN TRANSMISSION 34.48%
10 HAIR COLOR EXPRESS 33.33%
11 LEE MYLES AUTOMOTIVE TRANSMISSIONS 33.33%
12 GODFATHER'S PIZZA 33.33%
13 SMOOTHIE FACTORY 33.33%
14 BLIMPIE 31.39%
15 GOLF U.S.A. (RETAIL GOLF EQUIP.) 30.77%
Source: Small Business Administration, SBA Loan Performance Within Franchise Code for the Period of FY 2001 - 2005
Exclusive: Interview with Results
- Hi Forum Members,
I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles).
As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business.
This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business.
I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months.
At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews.
I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum.
If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM.
Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.
Re: Biz Plan Competition
- i just wanted to say that posting Small Business Events on CanadaOne is a great resource. Thanks Julie!
Re: You can now trade stock with your twitter account
- A nice idea for active traders who don't mind having their trades in the public domain.
The biggest drawback seems to be that you still have to go into e-Trade to complete the transaction. That removes what I thought would be the biggest advantage of stock-trading via Twitter - the ability to trade quickly and instantaneously while on the go...
On the other hand, having to confirm trades on e-Trade does mean that you can pull out of a deal if you have second thoughts!
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by: Dianne Crampton, Successful Team Building
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