26 SEPTEMBER 2011
A business (as well as an individual), will be a consumer for the purpose of the Consumer Guarantee provisions of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) where the price paid for the goods or services is less than $40,000 or the goods purchased are of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption.
This is significant for businesses as the consumer guarantee regime creates a number of minimum standards and obligations, known as ‘consumer guarantees’, which apply where goods or services are supplied to consumers.
A supplier or manufacturer cannot contract out of the Consumer Guarantee provisions, except in limited circumstances and a term of a contract that has the effect of or purports to exclude, restrict or modify those guarantees or the liability of a person for failing to comply with them is void.
Where the consumer guarantees apply, it will generally not be possible to exclude liability for negligence, consequential Loss or claims in excess of a certain amount or after a period of time. Nor will it be possible to exclude conclusive evidence clauses or clauses which require a consumer to claim first against the manufacturer.
The limited exception applies to allow liability to be reduced to replacement, repair or the cost of either where the goods or services are not of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption.
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[contactsbox] [leftcolumn]Contact Partner: Tracey Miley
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