Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, FRANCHISING & DISTRIBUTION NEWS: Australian franchising authority to audit take-away food and fitness franchisors, (Oct 21, 2013)

By Tobias J. Gillett, J.D., LL.M.

In a speech before the Legal Symposium at the National Franchise Convention in Australia on Sunday, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Deputy Chairman Dr. Michael Schaper announced that the agency intends to use its audit power to determine whether franchisors in the take-away food and fitness industries are complying with the Franchising Code of Conduct.

The industry code audit power grants the ACCC the authority to compel a business to provide information which it is required to keep, generate, or publish under a prescribed industry code. For franchisors, this information can include disclosure documents, marketing fund statements, and franchise agreements.

“We are now targeting industries that are generating a disproportionate number of complaints,” said Schaper. “In the ACCC’s next round of audits we will be looking at franchises from the take-away food and health and fitness industries, however our audits will not be restricted to these two sectors.”

Additional activities planned by the ACCC and discussed in Schaper’s speech include refreshing the membership of its Franchising Consultative Committee, publishing guidance on franchise supply arrangements, revising the existing franchising publication over the next 12 months, and developing closer ties with other franchise regulators internationally. Schaper also discussed the success of the ACCC-funded franchise pre-entry education program run by Griffith University, in which more than 5,000 people have enrolled and the ACCC’s enforcement activities related to the Franchising Code of Conduct. In addition, Schaper addressed the ACCC’s submissions concerning the Franchising Code review, and the recommendations made by the reviewer.

News: FranchisingDistribution