Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

The ACCC is responsible for enforcing compliance with the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), including the Code.

Complaints to the ACCC

The ACCC is flooded with complaints each year, including hundreds of complaints relating to breaches of the Code. It does not have the resources to deal with all of these and, accordingly, it is of little assistance to an individual franchisee seeking to enforce compliance with the Code.

See Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Restrictive trade practices

The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) prohibits “exclusive dealing”. Many of the common practices of franchisors breach these provisions. This includes requiring franchisees to acquire supplies from the franchisor or from suppliers nominated by the franchisor. It also includes directing franchisees not to sell products other than those nominated by the franchisor.

Franchisors may be relieved from the impact of these requirements by:

• • obtaining authorisation from the ACCC for their activities; or
• • notifying the ACCC of the franchisor’s intentions to engage in exclusive dealing. This is by far the more common way of overcoming the problem. Provided that the franchisor lodges such notification at least 14 days before engaging in the relevant conduct, its conduct will not be considered to breach the Act, unless the ACCC takes action. Because of the ACCC’s limited resources, it rarely takes steps to prevent a franchisor from engaging in exclusive dealing.

See Legislative requirements.