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AUSTRALIAN CONSUMER LAW AND FAIR TRADING ACT 2012 (NO. 21 OF 2012) - SECT 32

Limit of liability of guarantors

    (1)     If there is a contract of guarantee in relation to the performance of the obligations of a purchaser under a contract of supply of goods or services, the liability of the guarantor in relation to the performance of those obligations does not include liability in respect of an amount exceeding the sum of—

        (a)     the amount for which the purchaser is liable by reason of the breach of the contract of supply; and

        (b)     the reasonable costs of and incidental to enforcing the contract of guarantee.

    (2)     Subject to subsection (3), a guarantor of the obligations of a purchaser under a contract of supply of goods or services where the purchaser is a minor is liable under the contract of guarantee to the same extent as the guarantor would be liable if the purchaser had not been a minor when the contract of supply was made.

    (3)     Subsection (2) does not apply with respect to a contract of guarantee unless, when it was made, it included a prominent statement immediately above or below the place where the guarantor signed the contract to the effect that a person who enters into a guarantee in respect of the obligations of a purchaser who is minor may not have a right to recover from the purchaser amounts that the guarantor is liable to pay under the contract of supply.

    (4)     In this section—

"domestic partner" of a person means—

        (a)     a person who is in a registered relationship with the person; or

        (b)     an adult person to whom the person is not married but with whom the person is in a relationship as a couple where one or each of them provides personal or financial commitment and support of a domestic nature for the material benefit of the other, irrespective of their genders and whether or not they are living under the same roof, but does not include a person who provides domestic support and personal care to the person—

              (i)     for fee or reward; or

              (ii)     on behalf of another person or an organisation (including a government or government agency, a body corporate or a charitable or benevolent organisation);

"guarantee" includes indemnity;

"guarantor" means a person who enters into a contract of guarantee in respect of the performance of the obligations of a purchaser under a contract of supply of goods or services or of a person who enters into a contract of indemnity in relation to a contract of supply of goods or services but does not include—

        (a)     a person who is the supplier, or spouse or domestic partner of the supplier of goods or services to which the contract relates; or

        (b)     if the supplier is a body corporate, a person who is a director or an officer of the body corporate or is a related body corporate within the meaning of the Corporations Act or a director or an officer of a related body corporate or spouse or domestic partner of that director or officer; or

        (c)     a person who enters into a contract of guarantee or a contract of indemnity in respect of the obligations, under a contract of supply of goods or services, of a person who deals in goods or services of the kind to which the contract of supply relates.

"spouse" of a person means a person to whom the person is married.

    (5)     For the purposes of the definition of domestic partner in subsection (4)—

        (a)     "registered relationship" has the same meaning as in the Relationships Act 2008 ; and

        (b)     in determining whether persons who are not in a registered relationship are domestic partners of each other, all the circumstances of their relationship are to be taken into account, including any one or more of the matters referred to in section 35(2) of the Relationships Act 2008 as may be relevant in a particular case; and

        (c)     a person is not a domestic partner of another person only because they are co-tenants.



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