Queensland FAIR TRADING ACT 1989 Reprinted as in force on 10 March 2000 (includes amendments up to Act No. 71 of 1999) Warning—see last endnote for uncommenced amendments Reprint No. 5B This reprint is prepared by the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel Warning—This reprint is not an authorised copy Information about this reprint This Act is reprinted as at 10 March 2000. The reprint shows the law as amended by all amendments that commenced on or before that day (Reprints Act 1992 s 5(c)). The reprint includes a reference to the law by which each amendment was made—see list of legislation and list of annotations in endnotes. This page is specific to this reprint. See previous reprints for information about earlier changes made under the Reprints Act 1992. A table of earlier reprints is included in the endnotes. Also see endnotes for information about— • when provisions commenced • provisions that have not commenced and are not incorporated in the reprint • editorial changes made in earlier reprints. Queensland FAIR TRADING ACT 1989 TABLE OF PROVISIONS Section Page PART 1—PRELIMINARY 1 Short title and citation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3 Objective of this Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 4 Application of Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 5 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 5A Meaning of “engaging in conduct” and “conduct” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 5B Effect of provision dealing with enforceability of a contract . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 5C Further meaning of acquisition, supply or resupply of goods or services . . 14 5D Meaning of “loss or damage” and “amount of loss or damage” . . . . . . . . . 15 5E Meaning of “making of a representation” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 5F Meaning of persons involved in contravention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 5G Meaning of related corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 6 Meaning of “consumer” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 7 Crown bound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 PART 2—CONSUMER AUTHORITIES Division 1—Consumer Affairs Council 8 Establishment and function of council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 9 Membership of council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 10 Chairperson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 11 Deputy chairperson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 12 Deputy members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 13 Vacating office of member of council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 14 Meetings of council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 16 Fees and allowances for council members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 2 Fair Trading Act 1989 17 Cooperation with other organisations or persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 18 Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Division 2—Commissioner for fair trading and Office of Fair Trading 19 Commissioner and other officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 19A Delegation by commissioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 20 Office of Fair Trading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 21 Functions of office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 22 Acting inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 23 Aid by government departments in supplying information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Division 3—Consumer Safety Committee 24 Consumer Safety Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 25 Term of appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 26 Casual vacancies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 27 Vacation of office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 28 Meetings of the committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 30 Fees and allowances of committee members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 31 Committee may obtain advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 32 Reference to the committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 33 Committee to report to Minister or commissioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 34 Commissioner to assist investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 35 Powers of committee to investigate matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 36 Appointment of deputies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 PART 3—TRADE PRACTICES Division 1—General rules 37 Interpretation for div 1—TPA s 51A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 38 Misleading or deceptive conduct—TPA s 52 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 39 Unconscionable conduct—TPA s 52A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 40 False or misleading representations—TPA s 53 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 40A False representations and other misleading or offensive conduct in relation to land—TPA s 53A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 41 Misleading conduct in relation to employment—TPA s 53B . . . . . . . . . . . 33 42 Cash price to be stated in certain circumstances—TPA s 53C . . . . . . . . . . 33 43 Offering gifts and prizes—TPA s 54 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 3 Fair Trading Act 1989 44 Certain misleading conduct in relation to goods—TPA s 55 . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 45 Certain misleading conduct in relation to services—TPA s 55A . . . . . . . . 34 46 Bait advertising—TPA s 56 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 47 Referral selling—TPA s 57 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 48 Accepting payment without intending or being able to supply as ordered—TPA s 58 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 49 Misleading representation about certain business activities—TPA s 59 . . 36 50 Harassment and coercion—TPA s 60 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 51 Application of certain provisions to prescribed information providers—TPA s 65A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Division 2—Unsolicited goods and services 52 Assertion of right to payment for unsolicited goods or services, or for making entry in directory—TPA s 64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 53 Liability of recipient of unsolicited goods—TPA s 65 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 54 False orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 55 Obscene material not to be sent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Division 2A—Pyramid selling 55A Definitions for div 2A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 55B Meaning of “trading scheme”—TPA s 61 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 55C Meaning of “payment to or for the benefit of” a person—TPA s 61 . . . . . . 45 55D Offences about pyramid selling—TPA s 61 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Division 3—Mock auctions 56 Prohibition on mock auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Division 4—Door-to-door sales 57 Definitions for div 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 57A References to consumer or supplier under a contract for the supply of goods or services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 57B References to contract for the supply of goods or services to a person who is a party to the contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 57C References to negotiation of a contract to which this division applies . . . . 49 58 Contracts to which this division applies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 58A Contracts to which this division does not apply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 59 Prohibition of certain contractual terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 60 Meaning of “prescribed contract” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 4 Fair Trading Act 1989 61 Requirements in relation to prescribed contracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 62 No consideration during cooling-off period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 63 Prohibited hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 64 Duties of dealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 65 Harassment or coercion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 66 Right of rescission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 67 Exercise of right of rescission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 68 Restitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 69 Related contracts or instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 70 No waiver of rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 71 Prohibition of certain actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 71A Exemptions from division for particular contracts or types of contract . . . . 58 71B Register of exemptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 72 Evidentiary matters concerning this division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Division 5—Express warranties concerning defective goods or services 73 Definitions for div 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 74 Definition of persons associated with warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 75 Offence to issue warranty lacking prescribed particulars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 76 Requirements prescribed for a warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 77 Use as warranties of deficient documents prohibited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 78 Belief that warranty will be honoured . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 79 Benefits under warranty additional to legal rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 PART 4—INFORMATION, SAFETY AND CODES OF PRACTICE Division 1—Information provisions 81 Information standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 82 Compliance with information standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Division 2—Safety provisions 83 Safety standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 84 Compliance with safety standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Division 3—Ministerial prohibition 84A Definition for div 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 5 Fair Trading Act 1989 85 Minister may make orders prohibiting or restricting supply of dangerous or undesirable goods or services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 85A Interim orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 86 Offence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 87 Seizure etc. of goods in certain cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Division 4—Codes of practice 88A Codes of practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 PART 5—ENFORCEMENT AND REMEDIES Division 1—Powers of commissioner and inspectors 88B Commissioner’s power to ask for substantiation of claims about the supply of goods or services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 89 Powers of inspectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 90 Power to obtain information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 91 Obstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Division 1A—General power of inspectors to seize goods Subdivision 1—Seizing and returning goods 91A General power to seize goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 91B Returning the seized goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Subdivision 2—Appealing against seizure of the goods 91C Where and how to start appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 91D Hearing procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 91E Powers of Magistrates Court on appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 91F Appeal to District Court on questions of law only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Subdivision 3—Forfeiting the goods 91G Court hearing offence proceeding may order forfeiture of seized goods . . . 80 Division 1B—Commissioner’s power to accept undertakings 91H Undertaking under a condition of an exemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 91I Undertaking about contravention of Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 91J Variation and withdrawal of undertakings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 91K Enforcement of undertakings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 91L Register of undertakings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Division 2—Offences, court enforcement and remedies 92 Offences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 6 Fair Trading Act 1989 92A Aggregate penalties limited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 92B Attempts to commit offences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 93 Continuing offences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 94 Proceedings for offences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 95 Conduct by directors, servants or agents—TPA s 84 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 96 Vicarious liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 97 Defences in proceedings for an offence against this Act—TPA s 85 . . . . . 88 98 Injunctions—TPA ss 79(4), 80, 80A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 99 Actions for damages—TPA s 82 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 100 Compensation and other remedial orders—TPA s 87 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 101 Mode of enforcement of compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 102 Power of Court to prohibit payment or transfer of money or other property—TPA s 87A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 103 Jurisdiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 103A Examination costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 PART 6—GENERAL 104 Impersonation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 105 Reference to consumer authorities and other matters restricted . . . . . . . . . 99 106 Savings of rights and remedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 107 Contracting out prohibited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 108 Severability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 109 Limitation of action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 109A Insurance contracts—limitation on effect of information disclosure . . . . . . 101 110 Preservation of secrecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 111 Service of documents etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 112 Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 113 Regulation-making power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 114 Approval of forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 PART 7—TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS FOR EQUITY AND FAIR TRADING (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 1999 115 Transitional provision for references to commissioner for consumer affairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 116 Transitional provision for references to Office of Consumer Affairs . . . . . . 107 7 Fair Trading Act 1989 SCHEDULE 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 SUBJECT MATTERS FOR REGULATIONS 1 Functions, powers and duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 2 Qualifications and appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 3 Supply of goods and services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 4 Fees etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 5 Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 6 Prevention of injury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 7 Prevention of deception of consumers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 8 Matters ancillary to Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 9 Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 ENDNOTES 1 Index to endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 2 Date to which amendments incorporated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 3 Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 4 Table of earlier reprints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 5 Tables in earlier reprints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 6 List of legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 7 List of annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 8 Provisions that have not commenced and are not incorporated into reprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121