The Fair Trading Legislation Amendment (Reform) Bill 2018 passed Parliament on 24 October 2018.
This implements the majority of the Better Business Reforms first explored in the Easy and Transparent Trading consultation paper.
The following reforms will commence as soon as the Bill receives assent:
- Item [2] from 2.7 in Schedule 2 – amendments to the Fair Trading Amendment (Commercial Agents) Act 2016
- Schedule 6 – removal of Ministerial advisory councils and the Products Safety Committee
- Schedule 7 – providing that documents can be served by electronic means across all Better Regulation laws and removing requirements for registered post to be used
- Schedule 9 – removing certain advertising requirements duplicated by the Australian Consumer Law
- Schedule 10 – provides that documents executed by certain organisations are valid without an official seal attached
- Schedule 12 – repeal of two Amendment Acts that have not yet started
The other reforms in the Bill will commence at later dates, depending on the scale of the changes involved. More information will follow.