On 25 June 2008 the Australian Federal Parliament Joint Standing Committee on Corporations and Financial Services resolved to inquire into the Franchising Code of Conduct and related matters.

This follows the recent State inquiries held in Western Australia and South Australia.

The terms of reference are:

The Committee is to inquire and report on the operation of the Franchising Code of Conduct, and to identify, where justified, improvements to the Code, with particular reference to:

1. the nature of the franchising industry, including the rights of both franchisors and franchisees;

2. whether an obligation for franchisors, franchisees and prospective franchisees to act in good faith should be explicitly incorporated into the Code (having regard to its presence as an element in paragraph 51AC(4)(k) of the Trade Practices Act 1974);

3. interaction between the Code and Part IVA  and Part V Division 1 of the Trade Practices Act 1974, particularly with regard to the obligations in section 51AC of the Act;

4. the operation of the dispute resolution provisions under Part 4 of the Code; and

5. any other related matters.

The Committee invites submissions by 12 September 2008. The Committee will report by 1 December 2008.

Please send submissions to corporations.joint@aph.gov.au or by post to -

Committee Secretary
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services Department of the Senate
PO Box 6100 Parliament House
Canberra   ACT   2600

Emailed submissions should include full name, address and phone contact details so that they can be verified.

For further information please contact the committee secretary on (Australia) 02 6277 3583.

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