Last August, we explained that the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs had generally accepted a Federal Productivity Commission recommendation for a national ‘unfair contracts’ law.
Canberra now says it will fast track the new law. Expect a bill in Parliament by June 2009, and a new law in force from 1 January 2010. As part of the process, an important discussion paper is now available.
Make no mistake. The new law will force a re-think of most ISP and telco standard contracts in Australia. Many everyday, standard terms will be at risk, or even completely banned.
It will also require Consumer Affairs Victoria to review its approach to unfair contracts.
With copyright infringement and ISPs a hot issue at the moment, we were interested to hear some news from New Zealand on the topic.
A national lender claims that it has no idea it has been involved in financing telco bundling deals.
We reported in 
Sometimes we feel a bit sorry for companies that fall foul of ACCC. They’re small. They are naïve. They really didn’t know they were breaking the law.
Despite massive opposition from the public and internet users, to ISP level internet filtering, the Government is pressing on with its internet filtering trials.
In the Federal Court in Sydney this morning, Justice Cowdroy booked at least 14 court hearing days starting on 6 October 2009 for the full trial of the iiNet copyright case.
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