Does your business have a good set of website terms and conditions? If not you need to read this…
Sharon Givoni Consulting Commercial and Contracts, Consumer Law, Internet Law
If your business is online, terms and conditions are a must.
They are an electronic contract that is legally binding between you and your customers. Specifically, they govern what customers or users must comply with in order to access and use your website.
What is the law?
The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) requires businesses with an online presence to have a set of website terms and conditions to protect consumers and ensure fair competition. Website terms and conditions are used to set out the legal relationship between a business and its customers, and to provide a framework for resolving disputes.
One of the key reasons the ACL requires website terms and conditions is to protect consumers from misleading or deceptive conduct.
Website terms and conditions can be used to clearly outline a business’s policies and practices, such as data collection, use, storage, and protection of personal information, returns, refunds, and warranties. This helps to ensure that consumers are fully informed and able to make informed decisions about whether to use the website and purchase from the business.
Intellectual property rights
Website terms and conditions can also be used to protect a business’s intellectual property rights, such as trade marks and copyright. This helps to reduce the risk that others will use your content or branding without permission.
Reduce your risk for Liability
Additionally, website terms and conditions can also be used to protect a business from liability in case of any loss or damage suffered by the users of the website.
This helps to ensure that the business is not held liable for issues that are outside of their control, such as technical difficulties, or issues that are related to user’s behaviour.
What sort of things are included in the terms and conditions?
From a legal perspective, the most important things to have in website terms in Australia include:
- Jurisdiction: A statement specifying that the website’s terms and conditions are governed by the laws of Australia.
- Liability and Disclaimer: A statement specifying the website’s liability in case of any loss or damage suffered by the users of the website, and any disclaimer of warranties or guarantees.
- Privacy Policy: A statement outlining the website’s policies on data collection, use, storage, and protection of user’s personal information. This should be compliant with the Privacy Act 1988, which regulates the handling of personal information.
- Intellectual Property: A statement outlining the website’s policies on copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property rights, including any restrictions on the use of the website’s content.
- Indemnification: A statement specifying that the user agrees to indemnify the website from any claims or damages arising from the user’s use of that website.
- Termination: A statement specifying the conditions under which the website can terminate a user’s access to the website and the consequences of such termination.
- Governing Law: A statement specifying that the terms and conditions will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the state or territory in which the website operates.
- Contact information: A statement specifying how users can contact the website with any questions or complaints.
- User content: If your website allows visitors to post content to your page, you should include a statement limiting your liability for offensive language, images or other postings.
It’s important to note that websites should always be reviewed by a lawyer to ensure that the terms and conditions are compliant with all relevant laws and regulations.
Additionally, it’s important to ensure that the terms and conditions are clear, easy to understand and prominently displayed on the website.
We can help you with your Website Terms
We at Sharon Givoni Consulting have been drafting terms and conditions for over 20 years and would love to assist you. Each set of terms and conditions we do are tailored to the needs of your business and the goods or services that it sells. Contact us today for a quote
Article by Sharon Givoni, Principal Solicitor
Sharon Givoni Consulting
www.sharongivoni.com.au
www.owningit.com.au