International Law

No delivery of goods in cooling off period under Australian Consumer Law

By Patrick Dwyer

The new Australian Consumer Law (ACL) commencing on 1 January 2011 includes a national law on “unsolicited consumer agreements” to replace existing State and Territory laws on door-to-door and telemarketing sales.

However there is an important change from current legislation regarding the operation of the mandatory cooling off period, which under the ACL is set at 10 business days: under the ACL, the supplier is not allowed to deliver goods during the cooling off period (s.86).

Existing State and Territory laws do not prohibit delivery of goods during the cooling off period. Some jurisdictions (all but New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT) prohibit the supply of services during the cooling off period, although exceptions are made for some emergency services.

This is a strange provision with an anti-consumer effect. By the time the buyer receives the goods, the cooling off period has already expired: if the buyer doesn’t like the goods when they arrive, the buyer has no right to return them and get a refund.

The regulations have a transitional period of 12 months to comply with the new cooling off rules.

Full post as published by Australian Regulatory Compliance Review on December 20, 2010 (boomark / email).