The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) Research Essay

The Australian Consumer legislation (ACL)

The Australian Consumer legislation (ACL) is a national legislation for trade and consumer protection that is outlined in the Australian government’s constitution. Legislative and consumer affairs, in collaboration with the Australian government and state’s territories, launched the legislation on January 1st, 2011. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission implemented the Australian Consumer Law. Additionally, the state and territory consumer protection agencies as well as the ACCC backed the enforcement. Australian Consumer Law defines consumers as people, businesses, or organizations who purchase products and services for less than $40,000. Consumers are now defined by the law as people who purchase products and services for domestic use or consumption that cost more than $40,000.

The Australian Consumer Law (ACL)

The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) is a national law under the constitution of Australian government for trading and consumer’s protection. The law was initiated on 1st January 2011 in conjunction with Australian government and state’s territories via legislative and consumer affairs. The Australian Consumer law was enforced by the Australian Competition and consumer commission. Besides, the enforcement was further supported by the state and territory consumer protection bodies and the ACCC. According to the Australian Consumer Law, consumers are individuals, companies or organizations that acquire goods and services priced less than $40,000. The law has also included consumers as individuals that acquire goods and services priced more than $40,000 by individuals, domestic use or consumption.

The Australian Consumer Law provides general protection that guides business conduct and marketing. The law bans misleading and deceptive business and commerce information, unconscionable conduct in trade in any business and unfair contract terms that may lead to voids in relation to consumer contract. The law ban unfair practices in both trade and commerce and protects consumer’s transactions. ACL considers manufactures liability in relation to goods and services. According to ACL, breaching the law may lead to criminal offense and actions are taken to those breaking the consumer laws. According to the Australian constitution, ACL legislation power of consumer protection was divided into commonwealth, state and parliament territory.

The Australian Consumer Protection Laws has the following general protection in the jurisdiction of protecting all consumers.

Unfair commercial practices

Misleading conduct

Unconscionable conduct

Unfair terms

The Australian Consumer laws affect developers selling lands both positively and negatively. The ACL is much focused towards protecting consumers rather than land developers thus affecting their business negatively. In context to;

Misrepresentation

Unfair Contract Terms

Misrepresentation

Misinterpretation is the presentation of untrue statement to coerce a person to enter into a contact illegally without truth and through fraudulent. Land developers are force to face the law under the court for breaching the Australia consumer Law. Contracts entered through misinterpretation are considered voidable the court of law under the Australian government. The misinterpretation may are categorized into three namely:

Fraudulent misinterpretation

Negligent misinterpretation

Innocent misinterpretation

The Australian Consumer Laws prohibits misrepresentation and consumers found guilty are responsible for damages and any other consequences including fines. The law protects land developers from fraudulent buyers that purchase land using false information and claiming back their land. The Australian Consumer Law has strict policies on misleading and misrepresentation in accordance the constitution under consumer protection. The law has several impacts on the land developers and some consequences are caused by negligence from customers or provision of wrong information. Land developers go at a loss due to negligence of consumers and the law does not favour them or consider their queries. However, many reported cases have found land developers to be on the wrong side by giving misleading and deceptive information regarding their property.

Misleading and misinterpretation may lead to court declaration whereby the court may give a verdict of compensation of loss or any damages to the party affected. Land developers may be compensated in case the buyer used wrong information during the exchange of the land ownership. Besides, the court may also make a judgment on against individuals involved in misleading. Land developers lose their land as a result fraudulent misinterpretation and the owners of the land lose a lot of money due to the court verdict or ruling. Consequently, the land developers Amy also are sentenced to prison.

Section 18 of Australian Consumer Law

Section 18 of Australian Consumer Law prohibits investors from participating in misleading and deceptive conducts. The land developer permit may be provoked and serious consequences such as sentence may occur. Consequently, lands developers that engage themselves in misleading conducts may be fined by the court of law. Similarly, the court may also make judgment on the vendors involved in misleading ether knowingly or unknowingly. Misinterpretation may lead to damage or loss of a property leading severe consequence to the land developers.

Land developers involved in misinterpretation are prohibited from doing any business for a period not less than three years. The suspension of the of the business permit affects the developers greatly the land developers loses most of their clients and experiences a bad reputation which affects their operation within Australia. Many developers found guilty by the court of law have been forced to quit the business. Developers lose customer loyalty and trust making their sales to go down. Financial institutions supporting the businessmen are also affected and forced to withdraw their support. Onerous warranties may be decided affecting the developers of the land. Unilateral changes may be declared by the court and this may have negative impact to the developers of the land.

Misinterpretation has led to not less than three million dollars fines by the court of law. Land developers found guilty are additionally fined extra two hundred million dollars for ACCC’s expenditure. The total fine on the business men affects them financially and may hinder their progress in the business. Besides, they are asked to writer to the buyer explaining the reason for the misleading interpretation and reminding themselves consumer rights. Publicity must be done informing the public the incident of the misinterpretation. The publicity is done at both national and regional level. An audit must be carried out to ascertain the reasons for the misinterpretation or misleading information.

Consequently, breach of section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law leads to extreme penalty and fine which affects the economic status of the developers and their relevant stakeholders. The pecuniary penalty on the participants may cause financial discourse on the corporation and individuals. The victims of misleading or descriptive basically entitled to damages which may be in form of momentary compensation. The measure of the compensation caused by the damages is same as those in the contract law. Lastly, there is possibility of unwinding the contact and the both the parties are set free as if there was no contract. The contact is cancelled and both buyers and sellers are dismissed by the court according to the law.

Unfair Contract Terms

According to the Australian Consumer Law, consumer contacts any legal contact for sale or granted to a person for use. Unfair contract are normally deemed void and may be treated as if never existed. Unfair contact terms have several impacts to the developers selling lands. The impacts may as result of court declaration or verdict. Buyers are allowed to complain through relevant regulators and seek solutions. The consequences may be as serious as civil penalties to more than $1.2 dollars towards corporations and $221,000 for individuals due to breaching of terms under consumer protection terms as well as unconscionable. Besides, the court may rule for total compensation on the buyer. The contact is majorly involved with land and the contracts depend on the intention of the buyer. According to ACL, contacts signed between developers and individual as standard forms.

Land developers are advised to record their negotiation with the buyers during agreement on contracts. The Australian Consumer Law states unfair contacts if;

The contact causes an imbalance in both parties in accordance with rights and obligations as stated in article 18 of ACL.

If the contact intends to protect only the interest of developers and neglecting the client’s interest

The contracts cause detrimental issues to one party or lied upon.

The unfair contract terms are termed void if there is significance imbalance in the involved parties. The unfair term is likely to cause detrimental and that can only be proved via the court of the land. The developer should agree to make new agreements based on the compliance and terms and conditions as stated in the Australia Consumer Law. Courts are expected to take into considerations several factors such as transparency and the whole contract.

Unfair contract terms were enacted to deal with any liability arising concerning the business terms and agreement. The unfair contract terms may not give a full penalty but depending on the source of the liability that may be caused by negligence or liability. The provisions of unfair contract terms exclude liability for any negligence. Damages may be awarded to individuals under subsections with an order from court.

The developers selling the lands may be impacted negatively by the unfair contract terms that may lead to cancellation of the entire term and declaring it void. The developer may also be requested to return the land to the buyer as well as the whole amount due to attempt of theft or fraudulent. The renewal terms may be affected as well and the developer may be forces to wait until the term is ended as stated in the Australian Constitution Law. There is unilateral termination in case of agreement before time of signing agreement and payment. Termination of convenience may arise due to unilateral right of contract termination irrespective to whether there was a default or preachment. The court may decide to rule out the case by terminating the contact. Developers selling land waste time and therefore more financials loss are occurring. There is detrimental on financial status of the developer. Some clauses may also be terminated due to inconvenience. Some courts make judgment for broad exclusion in the liability clauses.

In conclusion

In conclusion, the Australian consumer law plays vital role in protecting the rights of the consumers as stated under the constitution of the Australia. The consumer law ensures fair trading and consumer protection. The protection of consumers is imperative and protects them from being exploited the buyers. The ACL includes both unfair and misinterpretation contracts. The parties involved in the contract agreement should comply with the terms and condition. The act of law enables individuals to avoid civil liability caused by breach contract terms. The agreements on the contract terms are guided by the ACL acts in accordance to the constitution. Both misinterpretation and unfair contract terms affects developers of the land negatively. The sellers may be forced by the court to compensate the parties’ involved causing loss and damages.

Bibliography

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