The 2025 Franchising Code: what changed for buyers

• 1 April 2025: the Competition and Consumer (Industry Codes, Franchising) Regulations 2024 replaced the 2014 Code for new, renewed, extended and transferred agreements.
• 1 November 2025: a grace period ended, bringing in early-termination compensation, the reasonable-return rule, capital expenditure disclosure and rules for every specific purpose fund.
• 21 October 2025: the ACCC took over running the Franchise Disclosure Register.
• 1 July 2026: the penalty unit rose to $364, so the standard maximum civil penalty is $218,400 per contravention.
• Agreements signed before 1 April 2025 stay under the 2014 Code until they are renewed, extended or transferred.

Most of the buyer-facing changes affect the weeks before you sign. These are the ones to know.

• The Key Facts Sheet was abolished on 1 April 2025, and copies uploaded to the Register before then are no longer publicly visible.
• The 14-day rule was rebuilt. The franchisor can't sign until 14 days after giving you the disclosure document, the Code and the agreement in final form, and any payment you make in those 14 days must be refunded within 14 days of a written request (s23). This replaced the previous rule about non-refundable payments.
• The 14 days restart if the franchisor changes the agreement in anything but a minor way, or gives you new earnings information (s23(6)).
• Disclosure documents cover more: current workplace-law proceedings, including under the Fair Work Act's responsible franchisor provisions; former franchisees' phone numbers and email addresses where available; and whether you could face competition from businesses not connected to the franchisor (Schedule 1, items 4, 6 and 9).
• Disclosure documents must also say whether you will have to fund significant capital expenditure during the term, with its rationale, amount, timing, expected benefits and risks (items 14(1A) and 14(1B), for documents created from 1 November 2025).
• Former franchisees must be told at least 14 days before their personal information goes to buyers that they can ask for it to be withheld (s63), so some contacts may be missing at their request.
• Register profiles now answer whether the franchisor, its associates or their directors have serious offence convictions, relevant civil judgments or insolvency history, and whether the agreement offers arbitration.
• Repeat franchisees with a substantially identical agreement can opt out of receiving the disclosure document and of cooling-off (s23(4) and s50(7)). First-time buyers can't.

• Every substantive obligation now carries a civil penalty of up to 600 penalty units, which is $218,400 for conduct from 1 July 2026.
• Early-termination compensation (s43): if the franchisor ends the agreement early because it withdraws from Australia, rationalises its network or changes its distribution model, the agreement must compensate you by reference to lost profit, unamortised capital expenditure it requested, the lost chance to sell your goodwill and wind-up costs, and provide for buy-back of specified stock and equipment you can't reuse.
• A reasonable opportunity to make a return, during the term, on investment the franchisor requires (s44). The ACCC's example: a 5-year term is unlikely to be enough where a new site typically takes about 4 years to pay back, especially on tight margins.
• Specific purpose funds: marketing, cooperative and other funds you must pay into share one set of rules, and annual statements must show the percentage of income spent on fund expenses and on administration and audit (s31 and s61).
• Restraints of trade: a franchisor must not include or rely on a post-term restraint in the circumstances set out in s42, broadly where it refuses a renewal or extension you validly sought and pays no genuine compensation for goodwill. The rule now covers renewals and carries a penalty (s42 and s67).
• Termination on 7 days' notice, with no dispute under the Code, for serious grounds including insolvency, losing a required licence, a serious offence conviction, a court finding of a serious Fair Work contravention and certain Migration Act contraventions (s57).
• ASBFEO can publicise the names of franchisors that refuse to take part in, or withdraw from, mediation or conciliation (s78).

• The Key Facts Sheet: the previous Code required one, and it was abolished on 1 April 2025.
• Uploads of Key Facts Sheets and disclosure documents to the Register, which are no longer allowed.
• The previous rule that the documents had to arrive 14 days before signing or any non-refundable payment, whichever came first, replaced by the consideration period and refund right in s23.
• Separate rules for marketing funds and cooperative funds, now merged into specific purpose funds.
• Restraint clauses that simply had no effect after a refused extension: the rule is now a prohibition with a civil penalty.
• The right to dispute every short-notice termination ground through the Code. The s57 grounds can't be disputed that way, although you can still take court action.

Treasury says the numbering changed but the substance of most provisions did not. These protections carried over.

• The ACCC information statement, due within 7 days of your formal application or expression of interest and before the other documents (s22).
• The 14-day cooling-off period after you enter into a new agreement, with a refund within 14 days less reasonable expenses the agreement sets out (s50 and s51).
• The duty of good faith, which also applies while you negotiate (s18).
• The Franchise Disclosure Register, still free and public.
• The complaints process: written notice, 21 days to agree, then mediation or conciliation, with arbitration only by written agreement (s72 to s82).
• Limits on forced capital expenditure, the ban on backdated changes without written consent, and the protection of franchisee associations.
• The higher penalty tier for materially relevant facts and freedom of association, in place since 2022.

1. 7 May 2024: the Government responds to the independent review led by Dr Michael Schaper, agreeing or agreeing in principle to every recommendation.
2. 9 December 2024: the new Code is registered and announced, with a grace period for some rules to 1 November 2025.
3. 1 April 2025: the current Code starts, the Key Facts Sheet is abolished and the ACCC's April 2025 information statement applies.
4. 21 October 2025: the ACCC takes over the Franchise Disclosure Register from Treasury.
5. 1 November 2025: the grace period ends, and s43, s44, capital expenditure disclosure and the wider fund rules apply.
6. 30 March 2026: a new ACCC form applies to new and updated Register profiles.
7. 1 July 2026: the penalty unit rises from $330 to $364.
8. Before 1 April 2030: a statutory review of the Code must begin (s12).

1. Check the disclosure document's date. Documents created from 1 November 2025 must include the capital expenditure and fund items, and the ACCC told franchisors to update their templates by then.
2. Read item 14 for refits, relocations, rebrands or upgrades, and ask how the franchisor expects you to recoup them in your area. It must discuss this with you before you sign (s47).
3. Read item 4 for litigation, including workplace-law cases, and item 6 for former franchisees you can call.
4. Compare the Register profile with the disclosure document, including convictions, judgments, insolvency, arbitration and whether the franchisor can vary the agreement one-sidedly.
5. Find the s43 compensation clause in the agreement, and test the term length against the time the business needs to pay back its set-up cost (s44).
6. Diary the consideration period and the cooling-off period, and make any refund request in writing.
7. If you are buying an existing franchise, the transfer brings the agreement under the current Code on the day it happens, with its own 14-day wait and cooling-off right (s24 and s52).

• Which Code governs the agreement you are offering me, and when was your template last updated?
• What significant capital expenditure will I have to fund during the term, and when?
• Where is the early-termination compensation clause, and how is compensation worked out?
• Which specific purpose funds will I pay into, and can I see the latest annual statements?
• Is your Register profile up to date, and does it match the disclosure document?
• Do you ask for any payment during the consideration period, and how will you refund it if I walk away?
• Is there a restraint of trade, and will I be paid for goodwill if you refuse to renew?