Dr Craig Emerson, the Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs, recently announced that Parliament has passed the Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Bill (No. 2) 2010. This is the second bill passed as part of the reforms known as the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), regarded by some as the most significant change to the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (TPA) that has occurred since its commencement.
The ACL, which will change the name of the TPA to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, will consolidate the current legislative landscape relating to consumer protection and fair trading by replacing the Commonwealth, State and Territory laws with one national law.
The benefits conferred on consumers as part of the ACL reforms include the introduction of:
- unfair contract terms provisions;
- a national product safety scheme;
- a national system to regulate door to door sales, including the imposition of curfews on the hours on which salespeople may knock on doors; and
- a national scheme for statutory consumer guarantees.
The States and Territories must now pass the legislation so that the new national law can commence by 1 January 2011.
Our update on 19 March 2010 provides a more detailed overview of the ACL, including a summary of the unfair contract terms provisions.
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