---
title: "Unfair contract terms review of a standard-form agreement"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/franchising-and-distribution/unfair-contract-terms-review"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a34-unfair-contract-terms-review"
area_id: "A34"
kind: "checklist"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
task_ids: ["A34-R20261018-5"]
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-22"
---

# Unfair contract terms review of a standard-form agreement

> Review table for a standard-form franchise or distribution agreement against the unfair contract terms description on the ACCC page opened on 22 October 2026, including the small-business thresholds that page says…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/franchising-and-distribution/unfair-contract-terms-review  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-22

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

Review table for a standard-form franchise or distribution agreement against the unfair contract terms description on the ACCC page opened on 22 October 2026, including the small-business thresholds that page says changed on 9 November 2023.

## Key facts

- Kind: Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Practice area: [Franchising & Distribution](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/franchising-and-distribution.md)
- Jurisdictions: Commonwealth
- AI level: Yellow. You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-22
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-22 against the authority it cites, for Commonwealth.

## When to use it

Use when reviewing a standard-form franchise or distribution agreement for terms a court might find unfair, before any term is deleted or relied on.

## Used for these tasks

- [Review a standard-form franchise or distribution agreement for unfair contract terms](https://ailawframework.com/practice/franchising-and-distribution/review-a-standard-form-franchise-or-distribution-agreement-for-unfair-co.md)

## How AI may be used

The tool puts each term the lawyer nominates against the three-part description on the ACCC page, and the lawyer decides whether the term should be changed.

**AI may:**

- List terms the lawyer nominates and note which of the three limbs on the ACCC page each one is said to meet.
- Record the contract date and which small-business threshold the ACCC page attaches to contracts before, and from, 9 November 2023.
- Mark an exclusion the ACCC page lists, when the lawyer says that exclusion may apply.

**AI must not:**

- Do not decide that a term is unfair. The page says only a court can make that decision.
- Do not cite a section number of the Australian Consumer Law. The Act was not opened.
- Do not state a penalty. The penalties page was not opened.

**The lawyer checks:**

- Check the contract date against 9 November 2023. The page says the new small-business thresholds replace the earlier ones for a new or varied standard-form contract from that date.
- The page says there is a presumption that a contract is a standard-form contract, and that the party who prepared it must prove that it is not.
- A term the page says is void if a court finds it unfair does not, on that page, bring down the rest of the contract if the contract can continue without it.

## Authorities

- [ACCC, Unfair contract terms](https://www.accc.gov.au/business/selling-products-and-services/unfair-contract-terms)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/franchising-and-distribution/unfair-contract-terms-review and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*