All publications relating to ‘Commercial’
Penalties in Contracts
Penalties in Contracts The basic principle of Australian contract law is freedom of contract. However, like freedom in general, freedom of contract is subject to limitations. One such limitation is that a provision in a contract that seeks to impose a penalty on a contracting party, is not enforceable. What is a penalty? In its basic…
ASX is making listing more difficult for SMEs
In Brief An ASX Media Release on 12 May 2016 set out a number of changes, both immediate and proposed, to the admission requirements to the official ASX list. The changes are intended to “maintain and strengthen the reputation” of the ASX. However one of the side effects is that the…
Tax Incentives for Investors in Early Stage Investment Companies
“Australians are renowned for their smart ideas, but we often fail to back them and turn them into commercial realities.Only 9% of Australian small to medium sized businesses brought a new idea to market in 2012 – 13, compared to 19% in the top five OECD countries.We will provide new tax…
Arming David with a shield: unfair contract protections
In brief Small businesses are consumers in their own right. So why shouldn’t they be protected from unfair contracts in the same way that consumers are? Now, new legislation ensures that David won’t face Goliath without a shield. Our modern consumer protection laws ensure that consumers are protected from unfair contract…
Cellarmaster Wines must swallow a $110,000 penalty from ACMA
In Brief ACMA’s most recently publicised enforcement action, against Cellarmaster Wines Pty Ltd (part of the Woolworths group) acts as a timely reminder that every business must take sufficient care in managing its responsibilities under the Spam Act 2003 (Act). Swaab has observed that ACMA has ramped up enforcement action in…
ACCC takes first enforcement action under “unfair contract” laws in the Australian Consumer Law
In Brief- Don’t be caught in the ACCC’s crosshairs The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has started to take enforcement action against standard form consumer contract terms that it considers to be unfair and unenforceable. National laws proscribing unfair contract terms, included in the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), came…