Mobile telephone franchising undertakings accepted
JV Mobile Pty Ltd will revise the way it does businesses with its customers after Australian Competition and Consumer Commission intervention.
"The ACCC has accepted court-enforceable undertakings from JV Mobile after concerns that the company may have breached the Franchising Code of Conduct, and so be in breach of Trade Practices Act 1974," ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.
JV Mobile provides licences to JV Mobile retailers to own and operate stores using the name JV Mobile in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane. The JV Mobile retailers supply mobile phone airtime and retail mobile phones and accessories obtained through JV Mobile.
"The ACCC was concerned that JV Mobile had promoted and advertised its business network as a franchise, including in Vietnamese language media, and sought and/or received payments pertaining to a franchise business from JV Mobile retailers without giving them all the safeguards available under the Franchising Code", he said. "The ACCC considers that, if JV Mobile was marketing and operating as a franchisor then it must afford franchisees the rights owed to them by the Code. These include, particularly, the provision of a disclosure document, upfront. The disclosure requirement is a key pillar of the code. As such, a failure to comply with this requirement is unacceptable and unlawful conduct".
JV Mobile provided the ACCC with court-enforceable undertakings to:
in accordance with the Franchising Code, formally structure all new agreements with JV Mobile retailers as franchise agreements and provide the opportunity for existing JV Mobile retailers to structure their existing agreements as franchise agreements including, particularly:
the provision of disclosure documents
dispute resolution and termination procedures, and
a cooling off period
implement a trade practices law compliance program that includes complaints handling procedures and practical trade practices training focusing on the Franchising Code
place an article in a national Vietnamese newspaper, Nhan Quyen, outlining key rights and obligations under the Franchising Code, and
mediate, or attempt to mediate, any current disputes with former JV Mobile Retailers in good faith.
"These undertakings will act to provide greater transparency and certainty for both JV Mobile and JV Mobile Retailers which is consistent with the key principles of the Franchising Code," Mr Samuel said.
