6th May 2017 - ADMIN

Website Terms and Conditions of Use (‘Website Terms’)

 A Website Terms will apply to every visitor on your website. A website runs on a browser and is information based with a primary objective of supplying content and information about a company or person, products or services or other target market.

Your Website Terms set out the rules that visitors must follow when visiting your website and how consumers can purchase goods and service on your website.

A Website Terms inform the users of your website as to how they can and cannot act and clarifies to consumers the terms under which they are purchasing goods and services from you.

A Website Terms should address:

• The rights and obligations of people using your website
• Payment terms
• Delivery terms and conditions
• A statement that you comply with the Australian Consumer Law and consumer guarantees
• Return and refund policies (you must offer a refund as under the ACL you guarantee your goods and services)
• Protection of intellectual property (including that you own your website content and trade marks)
• Limitation of liability (for potential claims of damages)
• Details of your warranty (if you provide one)
• Governing law (the law under which your terms are governed)

What should I do to ensure compliance with the Australian Consumer Law?

The ACL protects domestic customers in Australia including through consumer guarantees and product safety standards. The ACL is a single, national law covering consumer protection and fair trading. The ACL applies in all States and Territories. Consumer protection provisions, including those prohibiting misleading and deceptive conduct, and misleading representations are regulated by the ACL. Under the ACL, consumers have the right to ask for a repair, replacement or refund.

Section 18 of the ACL prohibits a person (which includes corporations), in trade or commerce, from engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct. Under section 29 of the ACL, a person is prohibited from making false or misleading representations in connection with the supply, possible supply or promotion of goods or services.

The consumer guarantees applying to products including that products are of an acceptable quality, goods are fit for an specified purpose, goods correspond with their description, goods match the sample or demonstration model, a manufacturer will take reasonable ensure that repair facilities and parts for goods are reasonably available and manufacturers or suppliers will comply with any express warranty they make about goods, such as relating to the quality, state, condition, performance or characteristics of goods.

The consumer guarantees relating to services include that services are performed with due care and skill, services are fit for a particular purpose and services must be supplied within a reasonable time if no time has been specified.

Your Website Terms should include:

• A statement that you comply with the Australian Consumer Law
• A clear returns, exchange, repair and refund policy including processing and postage fees
• Details of your guarantee
• Details of your warranty (if you provide one)
• Terms that are carefully drafted to ensure that exclusions of liability provisions are subject to the application of the ACL; and
• A disclaimer that protects you against the use of information on your website.

Privacy Policy

Personal information can include any information that can be used to identify an individual, such as a name, email address, mailing address, birthdate, or IP address. A Privacy Policy is required under the Australian Privacy Principles if you collect customer information on your app or website including email addresses, physical address, telephone numbers, credit card numbers and other personally identifiable information.  Your business needs a Privacy Policy for your app or website to state how it will deal with and store the personal information of customers including what it is, how you use it and how you disclose it.

Please call us on 1300 776  614 for a chat about your legal requirements.
Disclaimer. The material in this post represents general information only and should not be taken to be legal advice.