While parties mostly enter into commercial agreements with the intent of fulfilling their contractual arrangements in practice this does not always occur. However, clear terms and conditions limits your financial and litigation risk by clearly defining the terms of the contract.
The key elements of a terms and conditions of trade are:
- Invoicing and payment
- Liability protection
- Confidentiality
- Termination
- Scope of Work
- Warranties
- Defects
A well drafted Terms and conditions document will limit your liability for any claims resulting from alleged loss while using the website, while also protecting your intellectual property.
The key elements of a terms and conditions of a website are:
- the products and/or services your business provides on your website;
- the conduct of your business in dealing with user’s personal information;
- the intellectual property rights associated with your business, products, services and/or website;
- licences of use with respect to the products or services on your website; and/or
- any disclaimers, indemnifications or warranties that are relevant to the users or your business
It may be tempting to copy another business’s terms and conditions, attempt to draft your own, or simply trade without. These are not advisable approaches as you won’t have any guarantee that your Terms and Conditions will have legal effect.
Claims against your business for false, misleading or deceptive terms and conditions can result in penalties. Furthermore, where your Terms and Conditions are a standard form contract (most terms and conditions are standard form) they may be considered ‘unfair’ under the ACL.
The only way to know that your document is legally compliant is when it has been drafted/reviewed by a legal professional and is tailored to the specific needs of your business. Because the requirements in the ACL tend to favour the consumer, it is important as a business owner that your Terms and Conditions are drafted with the guidance of a lawyer to be compliant.
It is essential that you have a website terms and conditions document, and we recommend that you obtain a terms and conditions of trade agreement. If you require both documents at this time, consider our bundle offer and save!
Note: If your business collects data from its customers through its website, forms, email etc, it is highly likely that you may have a legal obligation to implement a privacy policy and make it accessible to your customers (usually found on your website). If you are unsure if this applies to your business, please feel free to contact us, or alternatively, click here if you would like us to prepare a Privacy Policy for your business.
If you have any general questions or require legal advice, please contact us and we can refer you to a specialist Law Firm.