31Conditions

31 Conditions

(1) This Part does not affect the right of a party to a franchise agreement to take legal proceedings under the franchise agreement.

(2) The parties are equally liable for the costs of mediation under this Part unless they agree otherwise.

(3) The parties must pay for their own costs of attending the mediation.

(4) In this clause:

the costs of mediation under this Part includes the following:

(a) the cost of the mediator;

(b) the cost of room hire;

(c) the cost of any additional input (including expert reports) agreed by both parties to be necessary to the conduct of the mediation.

Annexure 1 Disclosure document for franchisee or prospective franchisee

(subclause 6 (2))

1.1 On the first page:

(a) in bold upper case:

DISCLOSURE DOCUMENT FOR FRANCHISEE OR PROSPECTIVE FRANCHISEE; and

(b) the franchisor’s:

(i) name; and

(ii) business address and phone number; and

(iii) ABN, ACN or ARBN (or foreign equivalent if the franchisor is a foreign franchisor); and

(c) the signature of the franchisor, or of a director, officer or authorised agent of the franchisor; and

(d) the preparation date of the disclosure document; and

(e) the following statement:

This disclosure document contains some of the information you need in order to make an informed decision about whether to enter into a franchise agreement.

Entering into a franchise agreement is a serious undertaking. Franchising is a business and, like any business, the franchise (or franchisor) could fail during the franchise term. This could have consequences for the franchisee.

A franchise agreement is legally binding on you if you sign it.

You are entitled to a waiting period of 14 days before you enter into this agreement.

If this is a new franchise agreement (not a renewal, extension, extension of the scope or transfer of an agreement), you will be entitled to a 7 day ‘cooling off’ period after signing the agreement, during which you may terminate the agreement.

If you decide to terminate the agreement during the cooling off period, the franchisor must, within 14 days, return all payments (whether of money or of other valuable consideration) made by you to the franchisor under the agreement. However, the franchisor may deduct from this amount the franchisor’s reasonable expenses, if the expenses or their method of calculation have been set out in the agreement.

Take your time, read all the documents carefully, talk to other franchisees and assess your own financial resources and capabilities to deal with the requirements of the franchised business.