Old Code or new Code? How to tell which Franchising Code governs your agreement

• Signed before 1 April 2025 and not renewed, extended or transferred since: the 2014 Code still governs the agreement and most conduct under it.
• Signed, renewed, extended or transferred on or after 1 April 2025: the current Code applies from that day.
• Renewed, extended or transferred on or after 1 November 2025: the current Code applies in full, including early-termination compensation (s43) and a reasonable opportunity to make a return on your investment (s44).
• Conduct relating to the renewal, extension or transfer of an older agreement, such as the disclosure before it, follows the current Code (s98(2)).
• One current rule reaches back further: the small business ombudsman (ASBFEO) can name franchisors that refuse or walk out of mediation, for conduct from 1 April 2025, under agreements made since 1 January 2015 (s97(2)).

Section 97 names four events: entry, renewal, extension and transfer. Each is a trigger on its own, and the current Code applies from the day it happens.

1. Entering into a new agreement on or after 1 April 2025, including a fresh agreement you sign at the end of a term instead of renewing.
2. Renewal, which under s6 occurs when you exercise an option in the agreement to renew it, during its term.
3. Extension of the term: the term is lengthened other than through your option, for example a two-year extension you and the franchisor sign.
4. Extension of the scope: a material change to the agreement's terms and conditions, or to the rights or liabilities of a person under it (s6).
5. Transfer, which includes assigning the agreement to a buyer, ending it so the buyer can sign a new agreement, and a transfer the agreement itself provides for when specified circumstances happen (s6).
6. If none of these happens, the agreement stays under the 2014 Code until it ends or is terminated (s98(1)).

The Code defines both words in s6, and the difference matters most at the end of a term.

• Renewal happens when you exercise an option to renew that the agreement gives you. The trigger date is the day you exercise the option, which can be well before the new term starts.
• Extension of the term is any lengthening that doesn't come from your option, usually a deal struck with the franchisor.
• Extension of the scope is a material change to terms, rights or liabilities, such as adding a territory. Whether a particular change is material is a question for your lawyer.
• Both renewal and extension bring an older agreement under the current Code, and both require the pre-signing steps in s23, including a disclosure document unless you validly opt out.
• Neither gives you a cooling-off period (s50(6)), and the independent advice statements in s27 aren't required for them.
• The restraint of trade limit in s42 covers franchisees who asked to renew as well as those who asked to extend. The 2014 Code's clause 23 referred only to extension.
• Because renewal occurs when the option is exercised, an option exercised before 1 April 2025 for a term starting later may leave the renewed term under the 2014 Code. Get advice if that is your situation.

These scenarios use illustrative dates. In each one, compare the date of the event with 1 April 2025 and 1 November 2025.

1. Signed 1 March 2022 with a four-year term and an option to renew. You exercise the option in writing on 12 January 2026. The renewal happens that day, so the current Code applies from 12 January 2026, including s43 and s44, because the renewal came after 1 November 2025.
2. The same agreement, but you exercised the option on 15 September 2025. The current Code applies from that day, but s43 and s44 don't, because the renewal came before 1 November 2025 (s97(3)). They would apply from the next renewal, extension or transfer.
3. Signed in February 2025, weeks before the start date. The agreement stays under the 2014 Code into 2026 and beyond. If you sell the business in August 2026, the buyer's agreement comes under the current Code on the day of the transfer.
4. Signed on 20 May 2025. The current Code applies from signing, including the restraint of trade prohibition in s42. Sections 43 and 44 don't apply unless the agreement is renewed, extended or transferred on or after 1 November 2025.
5. Signed in 2019 for ten years, with no option to renew. It stays under the 2014 Code until 2029 unless something changes. If in 2026 you and the franchisor agree to add two years to the term, that is an extension, and the current Code applies from the day of the extension.
6. Signed in 2021 and varied in 2026 to add a second territory. If that is a material change to your rights and liabilities, it extends the scope, the current Code applies from that day, and the franchisor must first follow the pre-extension steps in s23.
7. Signed on 3 November 2025. The current Code applies in full from day one, including s43, s44 and the rules for every specific purpose fund you pay into.

Almost all of the current Code started on 1 April 2025. A handful of rules were delayed to give franchisors time to update their agreements and disclosure documents.

• Compensation if the franchisor ends the agreement early because it withdraws from Australia, rationalises its network or changes its distribution model (s43): agreements entered into, transferred, renewed or extended from 1 November 2025 (s97(3)).
• A reasonable opportunity to make a return, during the term, on investment the franchisor requires (s44): the same start rule.
• Statements, audits and separate bank accounts for specific purpose funds that aren't marketing or cooperative funds, such as conference or IT funds (s31 and s61): from 1 November 2025 (s97(5)).
• Disclosure of those funds (item 15) and of significant capital expenditure (items 14(1A) and 14(1B)): required in disclosure documents created from 1 November 2025 (s97(6) and (7)).
• Marketing and cooperative funds: from 1 April to 31 October 2025, complying with the 2014 Code's fund rules counted as complying with the new ones (s100).

If your agreement hasn't moved across, these 2014 Code rules are the ones to check, not their current equivalents.

• The agreement's terms and most conduct under it, until a trigger event happens (s98(1)).
• Termination on serious grounds: the 2014 Code's clause 29 applies, not s57. The new no-dispute category, with its Fair Work and Migration Act grounds, belongs to the current Code.
• Restraints of trade: clause 23 decides when a restraint has no effect after the franchisor refuses to extend. The prohibition and penalty in s42 and s67 don't apply.
• Backdated changes: clause 31A bans them without your written consent, but only for agreements entered into, extended or renewed from 1 July 2021, and without a civil penalty.
• Capital expenditure: clause 30. For agreements made before 1 July 2021 and not renewed or extended since, an earlier version also allowed spending the franchisor justified in a written statement (ACCC model disclosure document guidance).
• Early-termination compensation and the reasonable-return rule: not available to these agreements at all.

1. Find the date you signed, and the date of every renewal, extension, variation or assignment since. Deeds of variation and option notices matter as much as the original contract.
2. If every date is before 1 April 2025, start from the 2014 Code.
3. If a renewal, extension or transfer happened on or after 1 April 2025, the current Code applies from the latest of those dates.
4. If that date is on or after 1 November 2025, s43 and s44 apply as well.
5. For any variation made since 1 April 2025, ask whether it materially changed your terms, rights or liabilities. If it did, it may have extended the scope and moved you across.
6. Ask the franchisor in writing which Code it considers applies, and keep the reply.
7. Check with a franchise lawyer before relying on a right that exists under only one Code, such as disputing a 7-day termination or challenging a restraint.

• Know your expiry date. Under the current Code, the franchisor must tell you at least 6 months before a term of 6 months or more ends whether it will extend, offer a new agreement or neither (s36).
• Ask for the current disclosure document. As a franchisee you can request one once every 12 months, and it must arrive within 2 months (s32 and s33).
• Compare the renewal agreement with your existing one, clause by clause. A new template may change fees, territory, restraints or end-of-term rights.
• If significant capital spending is part of the deal, the franchisor must discuss it, and how you are likely to recoup it in your area, before renewing or extending (s47).
• If you plan to sell, remember the buyer's agreement will be under the current Code, with a 14-day wait before the franchisor can consent (s24) and a cooling-off right (s52).
• Keep copies of every notice and statement you give or receive. Franchisors must keep them for at least 6 years (s37), and so should you.