Franchising Code of Conduct

After a number of spectacular collapses in franchises across Australia in the 1990s, the ACCC was given the power to regulate the Franchise Industry.

A cornerstone of the regulation is the Franchising Code of Conduct.

• The Code was created to assist the ongoing relationship between the franchisee and franchisor by covering issues such as:
• Disclosure of the pertinent information regarding the Franchisor
• Conditions contained within the Franchise Agreement, and
• Complaint handling and dispute resolution procedures

At the time of introducing the Code it was clear that there would be no exemptions, and so the Code would captured the relationship between the taxi owner/operator and his taxi network.

Amid grave concerns that networks would need to know where owners/operators obtained the money for their plates and the terms of the financing, and that in turn they would need to ensure each owner/operator fully understood the "all aspects of the franchise that might affect them", the ATIA became involved.

Lobbying for an exemption has been time consuming and resource heavy, and whilst some progress has been made to protect the Taxi Industry, there remains a considerable way to go.