As a franchisor, one of your most significant obligations is to provide relevant, accurate and up-to-date information to your franchisees and prospective franchisees. An important part of that obligation is creating a disclosure document containing materially relevant information about your franchise system. A disclosure document needs to be updated every year you intend to start or maintain a franchise business.

Australian franchisor Luxottica Franchising Australia (Luxottica) has paid a penalty of $19,800 after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued it with an infringement notice for failing to maintain an up-to-date profile on the Franchise Disclosure Register.

In this article we consider the "return on investment" requirement which applies to franchise agreements entered into, renewed or extended on or after 1 November 2025 (except for those new vehicle dealership agreements entered into prior to 1 November 2025 which are covered by the previous regulations).

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC) has recently begun the process of reviewing the new provisions governing Unfair Contract Terms (UCTs), which began operation on 9 November 2023. These new provisions considerably widened the scope of the old UCT provisions and have profound implications for many contracts, especially in the franchising sector. In this blog post we will unpack what the UCT provisions are, the type of contracts they affect, how the amended provisions changed the law and what the ACCC's review is hoping to achieve. We will also consider whether the amendments have, thus far, actually had the effects that the Government set out to achieve.

Assignment and novation are two methods of transferring contractual rights or obligations from one party to another. While they might seem similar and even interchangeable on the surface, they actually have very different uses, so it is important to have a good understanding of what you want to transfer and how you can do it.

In this article I take a look at some of the recent commentary around the outlook for franchising in 2026, as well as recapping the regulatory changes in 2025 (particularly the changes that came into effect on 1 November 2025).

2025 was a busy year in franchising with 2 tranches of Franchising Code changes coming into effect, requiring franchise disclosure documents to be updated twice last year in some cases.

Thankfully, 2026 should see more stability on the regulatory front.

An Assignment Agreement is a legal document which can be used by one party (the assignor) to assign rights or interests previously belonging to the assignor to another party (the assignee).

Arbitration is an alternative form of dispute resolution (‘ADR’) where parties with a disagreement present their case to a neutral third party known as an arbitrator, who then determines an outcome to resolve a dispute.

A decision made by an arbitrator is legally binding on all parties and enforceable in Court, unless all parties agree that the arbitrator’s decision will not be legally binding .

Since 2010, all of Australia's states and territories have been governed by Commercial Arbitration Acts, a scheme of legislation which have created a uniform framework for commercial arbitration in Australia. This ensures consistency in the processes and outcomes of arbitrations across the country.  

Arbitration between countries is also regulated in Australia by the International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth) .

Arbitration is a popular method for resolving commercial disputes, as it is efficient, impartial and enforceable . There are many professional arbitrators in Australia, and its arbitration industry is independent and sophisticated .

The ACCC announced on Thursday that it had issued infringement notices to Cash Converters Pty Ltd and Mobile Travel Agents Pty Ltd, for their alleged failures to comply with the Franchising Code of Conduct and that each franchisor had paid $16,500.00 in penalties.

As franchisors adapt to the Franchising Code of Conduct introduced on 1 April 2025 (the new Franchising Code), we look ahead to the next round of Code changes coming into effect on 1 November 2025.