Introduction

The Australian Franchising Code of Conduct 2014 (the Code) is recognised as one of the more comprehensive attempts to regulate the franchising industry within a nation's boundaries.

It bundles together the critical legal parameters of disclosure, relationship behaviour and disputation, supplementing them with key stakeholder rights such as ‘cooling off’, duties to act in good faith and mandatory mediation. These issues are often separated in other international jurisdictions and in many instances not adequately addressed, if at all.

The fact that the Code is prescriptive in seeking a more balanced relationship between the participants, with civil penalties to encourage good behaviour, has earnt it the reputation of being one of the more challenging relevant laws with which franchise systems need to comply.