Publication
Building long-term integrity in the voluntary carbon market
In recent years, an important question has arisen in relation to the voluntary carbon market (VCM) as it continues to expand: How do we elevate and maintain its integrity?
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Global | Publication | October 20, 2017
In the ACCC’s first successful case under the new business-to-business unfair contract terms provisions, the Federal Court has declared (by consent) that eight terms of the standard form contracts of JJ Richards & Sons Pty Ltd (JJ Richards) for waste disposal are unfair, and therefore void, where the other party is a small business.
The unfair contract terms provisions1, which previously only applied to consumers, were extended in November 2016 to cover small businesses. In early 2017, the ACCC announced that ensuring small businesses received the protection of the unfair contract terms law would be a key enforcement and compliance priority for 2017. Since then, the ACCC has commenced proceedings against JJ Richards and one other company.
The terms the court declared to be unfair and void related to:
In declaring the terms to be unfair, Justice Moshinsky also declared that “the Impugned Terms tend to exacerbate each other, increasing the overall imbalance between the parties and the risk of detriment to JJR Customers.”
The case of JJ Richards should act as a reminder for companies to review their business-to-business standard form contracts for compliance with the unfair contract terms provisions.
Sections 23-28 of the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)).
Publication
In recent years, an important question has arisen in relation to the voluntary carbon market (VCM) as it continues to expand: How do we elevate and maintain its integrity?
Publication
On 16 April 2024, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, the Minister for the Environment and Water (the Minister) announced progress on the package of reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act).
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