Blood in the water?
Jason Gehkre, writing at Smart Money, has an interesting view about the new franchise enquiry in Australia.
"The inquiry's terms of reference are: "To inquire and report on the operation of the Franchising Code of Conduct, and to identify, where justified, improvements to the Code, with particular reference to:The nature of the franchising industry, including the rights of both franchisors and franchisees.
Whether an obligation for franchisors, franchisees and prospective franchisees to act in good faith should be explicitly incorporated into the code (having regard to its presence as an element in paragraph 51AC(4)(k) of the Trade Practices Act 1974).
Interaction between the code and Part IVA and Part V Division 1 of the Trade Practices Act 1974, particularly with regard to the obligations in section 51AC of the Act.
The operation of the dispute resolution provisions under Part 4 of the code; and any other related matters."
These broad terms of reference will likely see many of the submissions presented to the recent South Australian and Western Australian inquiries dusted-off and resubmitted (with any necessary changes).
However what's missing from this process is a Government-sponsored study of the sector to officially establish the size and extent of franchising in Australia for itself, rather than relying on public submissions alone as the source of information about the sector."
