The Master Painter Australia - April 2016 Vol. 1 | Page 29

THE MASTER PAINTER AUSTRALIA

029

New Laws Extend Unfair Contract
Terms Protection to Small Businesses
On 20 October 2015, the Federal Government passed
amendments to Australian Consumer Law that will extend
unfair contract term protections to small businesses. The
legal reforms will have a significant practical impact on the
way in which businesses contract with each other when one
or more of the contracting parties is (or might be considered
to be) a ‘small business’.
These changes could potentially represent a big win for
contractors. They should see greater fairness injected into
construction contracts, and will mean that contractors need to
update their own contract terms for clients.

A Snapshot of The Reforms
The key update made to the legislation was a change in the
definition of what constitutes a ‘small business contract’. The
definition of ‘small business contract’ means contracts where
one of the parties employs fewer than 20 persons, and the
upfront price payable under the contract does not exceed