本平台将致力于为您提供与您在澳洲的投资项目相关的法律信息与服务、同时也会将与中国企业及个人投资者热切关注的产业相关澳洲新闻、最新行业规定等讯息及时传递给您。

合同是具有法律效力的协议或承诺。只有在满足相关要求的情况下合同才是有效的，其中包括要约、认可、考虑、意图建立法律关系和确定。虽然合同法一般属于普通法管辖，但也存在纠正不公平、不合理的合同的法律。

如果合同违反法律或公共政策，该合同将不具有强制性。一般情况下，只有合同的当事人受合同的约束，并有权强制执行合同。

不公平合同法

近期，一部新的国家法律已经通过，该法律禁止消费合同中的不公平条款。

新的不公平合同制度的范围是什么？

新的制度适用企业和消费者之间签订的“标准格式消费者合同”，以及金融产品或提供（或可能提供）金融服务的合同。新的法律不意图适用于企业对企业的合同，并将仅适用于与消费者签订的合同。

新制度规定，标准格式消费者合同中的任何被认为是“不公平的”条款可以被认为是无效的，并被视为不存在。如果不公平的条款不能被剖除，则整个合同可能被认定是无效的。消费者可以选择质疑一项不公平条款，或向相关监管机构投诉。监管机构或受影响的消费者可能寻求的补偿包括禁令、声明、以及法庭认为适当的其他命令（包括命令退款）。

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【专业干货——助您成功投资澳洲业务】

以下是我们会在最近即将为您带来的专题信息：

· 常见领域法律与规定：合同法、公开接管、电子商务、商业移民和雇主担保签证、房地产、环境法、气候变化相关规定

欲查阅之前我们发布的如下【在澳经商基本法律法规】主题系列以及与您生意相关的其他资讯，请进入订阅号点击右上角按钮，选择“查看历史消息”：

· 在澳大利亚注册公司

· 澳大利亚的公司管理规则

· 澳大利亚公司的劳资关系

· 澳大利亚的外商投资基本规则

· 澳大利亚税收政策

· 澳大利亚政府概况

· 澳大利亚法律制度概况

· 澳大利亚企业结构概况

· 技术与知识产权保护

· 反垄断和消费者保护法

（原创文章，欢迎转发，谢谢关注！未经授权，严禁转载！）

Contract Law 【Laws and Regulations in Common Area III】

A contract is a legally enforceable agreement or promise. Acontract will only be enforceable where it satisfies the relevant requirements including offer, acceptance, consideration, intention to create legal relations and certainty. While contract law is generally regulated by the common lawthere is also legislation to remedy unfair and unconscionable conduct.

A contract will not be enforceable where it contravenes legislation or public policy. Generally only the parties to a contract arebound by and entitled to enforce it.

Unfair Contracts Law

Legislation has recently been passed to put in place a new national law prohibiting unfair terms in consumer contracts.

What is the scope of the new unfair contracts regime?

The new regime applies to “standard form consumer contracts”entered into between corporations and consumers, and to contracts which are financial products or are for the supply (or possible supply) of financial services. The new laws are not intended to apply to business-to-business contracts and will only apply to contracts entered into with consumers.

The new regime provides that any term of a standard form consumer contract which is deemed to be “unfair” may be found to be void and treated as if it never existed. If the unfair clause cannot be severed, the entire contract could potentially be void. Consumers could either seek to challenge an unfair term or make a complaint about a term to the relevant regulator. The remedies which might be sought by a regulator or the affected consumer include injunctions, declarations, and other orders a court thinks appropriate (including orders to refund money).

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【We provideexcellent, expert advice to businesses wishing to invest in Australia.】

The coming topicsinclude:

· Laws and regulations in common areas, includingcontract law, business migration, real property, public takeovers, andelectronic commerce etc.

To view ourprevious news releases for Chinese investors and the following articles of thetopic ‘Basic legal knowledge on doing business in Australia’, please click theupper-right button on our WeChat platform, and choose ‘view previousinformation’:

· Setting up in Australia

· Company Administration

· Workplace Relations

· Foreign Investment

· Tax

· Australian Government

· Australian Legal System

· Australian Business Structures

· Protection of Technology and Intellectual Property

· Anti-trust and Consumer Law