General information about the Franchising Code of Conduct, not legal or financial advice. Dotto is not a franchisor, a franchise broker or a lawyer. The Code and the ACCC’s page on information and document obligations are the places to check. The ACCC regulates the Code.
Read from the Code as compiled on 21 October 2025 (Compilation No. 1, the version in force when it was read on 10 October 2026).
The scheduleWhat arrives, and when
The ACCC puts it simply: “During the franchise agreement, franchisors must disclose certain information and give certain documents to franchisees.” The Code sets each one, with its own time limit.
| What | When | Section |
|---|---|---|
| A copy of the lease or agreement to lease, with details of any incentive or financial benefit the franchisor or associate gets from it, where the franchisee leases premises from the franchisor or an associate | Within 1 month after the lease or agreement to lease is signed | 29(1), (2) |
| Written information a state or territory law required the head landlord to give the franchisor or associate, where the franchisee subleases | On written request: as soon as reasonably practicable, and no later than 7 days after the request | 29(3), (4) |
| Occupation without a lease: the head lease or agreement to lease, incentive details for it and for the occupation, the documents giving the right to occupy, and the conditions of occupation in writing | Within 1 month after occupation begins (for the occupation documents, after they are signed) | 29(5), (6) |
| Written information a state or territory law required the head landlord to give the franchisor or associate, where the franchisee occupies premises without a lease | On written request: as soon as reasonably practicable, and no later than 7 days after the request | 29(7), (8) |
| Copies of other agreements the franchise agreement requires (listed below) | At least 14 days before the franchise agreement is signed if the agreement is available then, otherwise when it becomes available | 30 |
| An updated disclosure document, after a franchisee’s written request | Within 2 months of the request | 32, 33 |
| A statement, declaration or document under item 21 (financial details) that an updated disclosure document did not carry | As soon as reasonably practicable, and to a prospective franchisee before the agreement is entered into | 34(1) |
| A materially relevant fact (the eight are listed below) not mentioned in the disclosure document | In writing, “within a reasonable time (but not more than 14 days)” after the franchisor becomes aware of it | 34(2) |
Every incentive or financial benefit disclosed under s 29 must name the business that provides it.
Section 30The other agreements
Where the franchise agreement requires the franchisee, or its directors, shareholders, beneficiaries, owners or partners, to sign another agreement of one of these kinds, the franchisor must give the franchisee a copy:
- a lease (other than a premises lease covered by s 29) or a hire purchase agreement;
- an agreement under which the franchisee owns, or is allowed to use, intellectual property;
- a security agreement, “including a guarantee, mortgage, security deposit, indemnity, loan agreement or obligation to provide a bank guarantee to a third party”;
- a confidentiality agreement;
- “an agreement not to carry on business within an area or for a time after the franchise agreement is terminated”.
Sections 32 and 33Asking for an updated document
A franchisee may ask in writing for a copy of the disclosure document, but a request “can be made only once every 12 months”, and it may ask for printed form, electronic form or both. The franchisor must update the document to the position at the end of the previous financial year and give it within 2 months of the date of the request, in the form asked for (civil penalty: 600 penalty units). The guide to the disclosure document lists what that document holds.
Section 34(3)The eight materially relevant facts
If the disclosure document does not mention one of these, the franchisor must tell franchisees and prospective franchisees about it in writing, within a reasonable time and no more than 14 days after becoming aware of it:
- a change in majority ownership or control of the franchisor, an associate, or the franchise system;
- proceedings by a public agency, a criminal or civil judgment, or an arbitration award in Australia against the franchisor, a franchisor director, an associate or an associate’s director, alleging breach of a franchise agreement, contravention of the Competition and Consumer Act or the Corporations Act, unconscionable conduct, misconduct, an offence of dishonesty, or a contravention of s 558B(1) or (2) of the Fair Work Act;
- civil proceedings in Australia against any of those people by at least 10%, or 10, of the franchisor’s Australian franchisees, whichever is lower;
- a judgment against the franchisor or an associate in Australia that is not discharged within 28 days, for at least $100,000 if it is a small proprietary company or $1,000,000 for any other company;
- a judgment against the franchisor or an associate in a matter that item 4 of Schedule 1 covers;
- the franchisor or an associate becoming a Chapter 5 body corporate;
- a change in intellectual property, or in its ownership or control, that is material to the franchise system;
- any undertaking the franchisor or an associate has given under s 87B of the Competition and Consumer Act, and any Federal Court order made under that section about it.
For proceedings and judgments, the notice names the parties and the court or tribunal, and gives the case number and the general nature of the proceedings.
PenaltiesWhy section 34 stands apart
Most of the duties on this page are civil penalty provisions of 600 penalty units. Section 34 states its penalties in dollars instead, and these are the figures as the Code states them (Compilation No. 1, read 10 October 2026). For a body corporate, the penalty is the greatest of $10,000,000; 3 times the value of the benefit obtained, if a court can work that out; or, if it cannot, 10% of adjusted turnover over the 12 months ending at the end of the month of the contravention. For anyone else, it is $500,000.
Financial statements for marketing and other specific purpose funds (s 31) are left to the Code’s own text. 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).
Later stages: ending the agreement early and the end-of-term notice.