People often mistakenly enter into a licence agreement or distribution agreement when it is in fact a franchise agreement. This means that they do not comply with the Franchising Code of Conduct which may lead to large penalties. If an agreement meets all of the criteria of a franchise agreement, then the Franchising Code of Conduct must be complied with, regardless of whether the agreement is called a franchise, licence, distribution or otherwise. The criteria for a franchise agreement ar...

On 15 December 2023, the ACCC issued a media release urging franchisors to urgently review and amend their standard form franchise agreements or to be prepared for potential enforcement action after a review of franchising contracts found wide-ranging concerns. The ACCC issued a report which can be found here. You will note that the ACCC has published its findings after completing targeted franchising compliance checks. ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said, “We are concerned that franch...

Delicia Franchising has admitted in an undertaking provided to the ACCC that it breached the Franchising Code. The ACCC identified that the Franchisor’s Annual Marketing Fund Statement for a number of years had not provided sufficient detail of the receipts and expenses for the Fund. Also, the Franchisor did not provide the financial statements within 30 days. The Franchisor has committed to: preparing Annual Marketing Fund Statements with sufficient details and giving them to its...