Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

TRADE PRACTICES ACT 1974 - SECT 74F

             (1)  Where:

                     (a)  a corporation, in trade or commerce, supplies goods (otherwise than by way of sale by auction) manufactured by the corporation to a consumer; or

                     (b)  a corporation, in trade or commerce, supplies goods manufactured by the corporation to another person who acquires the goods for re‑supply and a person (whether or not the person who acquired the goods from the corporation) supplies the goods (otherwise than by way of sale by auction) to a consumer;

and:

                     (c)  at a time (in this section referred to as the relevant time ) after the acquisition of the goods by the consumer:

                              (i)  the goods require to be repaired but facilities for their repair are not reasonably available to the consumer or a person who acquires the goods from, or derives title to the goods through or under, the consumer; or

                             (ii)  a part is required for the goods but the part is not reasonably available to the consumer or a person who acquires the goods from, or derives title to the goods through or under, the consumer;

                     (d)  the corporation acted unreasonably in failing to ensure that facilities for the repair of the goods were, or that the part was, reasonably available to the consumer or that other person at the relevant time; and

                     (e)  the consumer or that other person suffers loss or damage by reason of the failure of the corporation to ensure that facilities for the repair of the goods were, or that the part was, reasonably available to the consumer or that other person at the relevant time;

the corporation is liable to compensate the consumer or that other person for the loss or damage and the consumer or that other person may recover the amount of the compensation by action against the corporation in a court of competent jurisdiction.

             (2)  Subsection (1) does not apply where the corporation took reasonable action to ensure that the consumer acquiring the goods would be given notice at or before the time when he or she acquired the goods that:

                     (a)  the corporation did not promise that facilities for the repair of the goods, or that parts for the goods, would be available; or

                     (b)  the corporation did not promise that facilities for the repair of the goods, or that parts for the goods, would be available after a specified period, being a period that expired before the relevant time.

             (3)  Where the corporation took reasonable action to ensure that the consumer acquiring the goods would be given notice at or before the time when he or she acquired the goods that the corporation did not promise that:

                     (a)  facilities for the repair of the goods, being facilities of a kind specified in the notice, would be available;

                     (b)  parts for the goods, being parts of a kind specified in the notice, would be available; or

                     (c)  facilities for the repair of the goods would be available at, or parts for the goods would be available from, a place or places specified in the notice;

the corporation is not liable to compensate the consumer or a person who acquires the goods from, or derives title to the goods through or under, the consumer for loss or damage suffered by the consumer or that other person by reason of the failure of the corporation to ensure that facilities of the kind specified in the notice, or parts of the kind specified in the notice, were available, or that facilities for the repair of the goods were available at, or parts for the goods were available from, a place or places specified in the notice, as the case may be.

             (4)  In determining whether a corporation acted unreasonably in failing to ensure that facilities for the repair of goods were, or that a part was, reasonably available to a person at the relevant time, a court shall have regard to all the circumstances of the case, and in particular to the existence, at the relevant time, of circumstances that prevented those facilities or that part being so available, being circumstances beyond the control of the corporation.