Key developments
- Franchise Disclosure Register
- Transitioning from paper to digital survey plans
- Working with clients affected by domestic and family violence: a guide for family law practitioners
- Public Interest Disclosures Bill 2021 (NSW)
Franchise Disclosure Register
The Business Law Committee contributed to a submission to the Commonwealth Treasury in response to its consultation on draft Regulations and a Supporting Guide to implement the Government’s commitment to establish a Franchise Disclosure Register, as outlined in its response to the Fairness in Franchising Report.
The submission stated the Law Society generally supports increased transparency in the franchising sector and that the Register will assist prospective franchisees to make a more informed decision before entering a franchise agreement. We suggested that where franchisors operate with a financial year which is not aligned with the Australian financial year, they have an extended period to upload their disclosure document to avoid the need to upload twice within the initial 12-month period. To reduce the already significant compliance burden on franchisors, we suggested it would be helpful if the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission or the Small Business Ombudsman could collect information about, and publicly report on, the uptake of usage (and feedback on usability) of the Register.
We also suggested that, rather than franchisors accessing the Register using an employees (or agents) MyGov login as stated in the Guide, the use of a facility such as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Connect portal would be more appropriate for this type of commercial use.
