Franchise opportunities: what the Franchising Code makes a franchisor disclose

The law in forceWhich Code, and from when

The Franchising Code of Conduct is Chapter 2 of the Competition and Consumer (Industry Codes - Franchising) Regulations 2024, and those regulations declare it a mandatory industry code under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. The Act itself says that franchising is an industry for the purposes of its industry codes Part, and that franchisors and franchisees are participants in it. These guides read the Code as compiled on 21 October 2025, the version in force when it was read on 10 October 2026.

The current Code applies to a franchise agreement “entered into, transferred, renewed or extended on or after 1 April 2025”, and to conduct from that day in relation to it (s 97). An agreement that already existed before 1 April 2025 stays under the old 2014 regulations until it ends or is transferred, renewed or extended (s 98). A few of its rules apply only from 1 November 2025 (s 97(3) to (7)), mostly to agreements entered into, transferred, renewed or extended from that date or to disclosure documents created from it, and the guides note the ones they cover.

The paper trailFive documents the Code shapes

Each of these is a piece of writing the Code requires, and each has a guide here.

1. 01
   The disclosure document

   A franchisor must create one, set out in the form and order of Schedule 1 to the Code, which has 25 numbered items running from the franchisor’s details and litigation to financial details and a receipt (s 20).

   The disclosure document and its 25 items

2. 02
   Item 20: earnings information

   No franchisor has to give earnings information. One that gives none must print three set sentences saying so; one that gives it must put it in the disclosure document or an attachment (Schedule 1, item 20).

   Earnings information

3. 03
   The letters after signing

   Copies of leases and other agreements, an updated disclosure document on request, and written word of certain events, such as a change in who controls the franchisor, within a reasonable time and no more than 14 days after the franchisor learns of it (ss 29 to 34).

   What the franchisor must tell a franchisee after signing

4. 04
   A notice of termination

   The Code sets four kinds of termination by a franchisor, each with its own written notice: for a breach, without a breach, and two lists of grounds (ss 55 to 58).

   When a franchisor may end the agreement early

5. 05
   The end-of-term notice

   For a term of 6 months or longer, the franchisor must say in writing, at least 6 months before the term ends, whether it intends to extend the agreement, enter into a new one, or neither (s 36).

   End of term, restraints and capital expenditure

Elsewhere in the CodeThe steps around signing

The Code also sets the steps around signing, which these guides name but do not retrace: the ACCC’s information statement (s 22), the documents and the 14-day consideration period (s 23), the signed statements (ss 26 and 27) and cooling off for a new agreement (s 50). The ACCC describes them on its franchising pages, and puts the principle in one line: “Franchisors must disclose information and give documents at specific times and in certain circumstances.”

Most of the obligations these guides describe are civil penalty provisions of the Code, and the Act’s rule is short: “A corporation must not, in trade or commerce, contravene an applicable industry code.”

The guidesFive guides, one set of sections each

1. The disclosure document and its 25 itemsWhat it is for, its fixed shape, every Schedule 1 heading, six items read closely, and the yearly update.
2. What the franchisor must tell a franchisee after signingLeases, other agreements, an updated document on request, and the eight materially relevant facts.
3. Earnings informationWhat counts, where it must appear, the two statements the Code writes out, and what a projection must show.
4. When a franchisor may end the agreement earlyBreach, no breach, the seven grounds with 7 days’ notice, and the three grounds a franchisee may dispute.
5. End of term, restraints and capital expenditureThe end-of-term notice, the restraint rule, compensation if a franchisor withdraws, and the capital spending a franchisor may require.