Who must avoid unfair contract terms in standard form consumer & small business contracts?

From November 2023, unfair contract terms carry pecuniary penalties — up to $100M per term (from 28 March 2026).

Amendments to the Australian Consumer Law and ASIC Act, effective 9 November 2023, prohibit (with penalties) the use of, or reliance on, unfair contract terms in standard form contracts with consumers and small businesses (now redefined to <100 employees or <$10M turnover). Each unfair term can be a separate contravention.

Applies when the business has consumer customers or small business customers.

How the regulator frames it: Any business issuing standard form contracts to consumers or small businesses.

What triggers it: Including or relying on an unfair term in a standard form contract.

Jurisdiction: Commonwealth law, so the test is the same in every state and territory.

Outcome across the 35 industries Rules Mate maps (35 of 35: yes).

The answer is the same in every industry: yes. Industry does not change who must comply.

Structure does not change the answer across all industries: for every structure the answer is "yes".

Size does not change the answer across all industries: at every size band the answer is "yes".

Each line is one run of the Rules Mate applicability engine for a single business profile, with the reason the engine gives:

• Pty Ltd company in real estate agents with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: applies. Sells to consumers.

When due

Ongoing.

Frequency

Ongoing

Evidence to keep

Reviewed contracts, legal sign-off, term-by-term assessment.

Status

Current

Priority

High

Maximum penalty: $100M, 3× benefit, or 30% of adjusted turnover (corporations); $2.5M (individuals) per term.

Rules Mate has not yet classified the audit or assurance level for this obligation. Any audit, review or certification requirement is set by the regulator source listed below.

• Button + coin battery safety standard (mandatory): Suppliers of products containing button + coin batteries must meet 2022 mandatory standard.
• Comply with mandatory product safety standards + bans (ACL): Schedule 2 ACL — suppliers must comply with mandatory product safety standards + permanent bans.
• Country of Origin Labelling for food (CoOL Information Standard): Food sold in Australia must carry country-of-origin labelling per the 2016 Information Standard.
• Honour consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law: Goods and services supplied to consumers come with automatic statutory guarantees that cannot be excluded.
• Notify ACCC of a voluntary recall within 2 days: Suppliers must notify the ACCC within 2 days of initiating a voluntary consumer product recall.

Rules Mate tracks 7 published obligations tagged "consumer law", 2 of them rated critical. For a professional services Pty Ltd company with 6–19 employees operating in every state, 2 of those apply outright. This obligation is rated high priority, and is an ongoing duty.

Regulated by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

ACCC: Competition and consumer regulator administering the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and Australian Consumer Law, plus industry codes and infrastructure access regimes.

ASIC: Corporate regulator administering the Corporations Act, financial services and credit licensing (AFSL/ACL), markets supervision, insolvency, and registries (ASIC and ABRS).

• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission

CCA: Australia's competition + consumer protection law.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001: Establishes ASIC + sets its information-gathering, investigation + enforcement powers.

• Competition and Consumer Act 2010
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001

Free tools that help with this obligation:

• Unfair contract terms checker
• Consumer guarantees checker
• Merger notification screener