Check a standard-form technology contract for unfair terms
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the contract and the order form, list each term that lets one party alone avoid a duty, end the contract, change a term, or raise the price, and note whether the customer can end without penalty. Mark the upfront price and the main subject matter so they are not treated as candidates. The tool does not decide that any term is unfair.
- What the lawyer must review
- The lawyer decides whether the contract is a standard form and whether a term is unfair. On the ACCC page, a term is unfair only if it causes a significant imbalance, is not reasonably necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the party who benefits, and would cause financial or other harm to the other party if enforced. The court looks at the contract as a whole and at transparency, and another term can offset the unfairness. Only a court decides. From 9 November 2023, proposing, using or relying on an unfair term in a standard form contract is banned and penalties can apply. The ban covers contracts made or renewed on or after that date, and a term varied or added on or after that date. A variation also brings the standard-form changes onto the whole contract. There is a presumption that the contract is a standard form. From 9 November 2023 a small business is one with fewer than 100 employees, or annual turnover of less than $10 million. The older 20-employee and upfront-price thresholds on that page were replaced and are not used for a new or varied contract. Terms required or permitted by another law, the upfront price, the main subject matter, a company constitution, and a commercial contract for shipping goods by sea are outside the law. If a court finds a term unfair it is void, and the rest of the contract continues if it can operate without that term. A contract for a financial product, a financial service or insurance is assessed under ASIC Information Sheet 211 and section 12BF of the ASIC Act, including the $5,000,000 upfront-price cap for financial products and services. That sheet joins the third unfairness point with the word or, so the lawyer reads the section. A general technology contract follows the ACCC page, which states the three points together and does not apply that cap.
- Written for / version
- US
Open a jurisdiction version of this task to see which instruments apply: US
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | From the contract and the order form, list each term that lets one party alone avoid a duty, end the contract, change a term, or raise the price, and note whether the customer can end without penalty. Mark the upfront price and the main subject matter so they are not treated as candidates. The tool does not decide that any term is unfair. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Confirm the contract date, and whether any term was added or varied on or after 9 November 2023.
- Do not mark the upfront price or the main subject matter as an unfair term.
- Use the three points on the ACCC page together. For a financial product, service or insurance contract, open section 12BF and apply the $5,000,000 cap.
- Record that a row is a candidate only. Remove any sentence that says a court would void the term.
Sources
- ACCC: Unfair contract terms · 2026-10-22
- ASIC: Information Sheet 211, unfair contract term protections for small businesses · 2026-10-22
These are suggested working checks. Confirm the required checking with the responsible lawyer before work starts; the checking approach does not establish permission to use AI.