4 2 1 3 FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
ABOUT BUSINESS COMPLIANCE Dominic Woolrych, Legal Product Manager
Minimising legal issues that may present themselves as your company grows not only in profit but in numbers is undoubtedly an imperative of a successful business.
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hile it is easy to avoid thinking about and addressing legal issues, confronting these issues head on is essential to the maintenance and success of your business in both the short and long term. This guide aims to clarify whether your business complies with legal requirements across key areas to save you from unnecessary legal complications. In a recent report conducted by LawPath, analysing statistics taken from our legal health check service, issues stemming from three primary areas became evident for SMBs: online compliance, employment and business structures.
Online legal considerations If your business operates online, there is no doubt that compliance with online obligations is essential to the legal health of your business. Getting your website’s terms and conditions (T&Cs) in order are a crucial first step, and are an absolute necessity for anyone conducting business online.
Why are terms and conditions so important? When supplying goods or services to customers, the first thing to focus on is getting the T&Cs of your website correct and tailored to your business. Having effective terms and conditions is important for three main reasons: • Setting out your terms and conditions with clarity enables customers to understand the services in which you sell and the method that you use to provide the service. • Online tech companies provide their T&Cs through a ‘click and accept policy’. This allows customers to understand that there are T&Cs prior to making a purchase.
8 ECD SOLUTIONS - JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016
• A well-drafted set of terms and conditions enables your business to avoid liability to the fullest legal extent permitted by the Australian Consumer Law. Although the clauses included in website terms and conditions will vary between businesses, every set should include: terms of payment; dispute resolution mechanisms; terms of delivery; and refund and return policies. .A privacy policy is an essential element to make sure that your website is secure and trustworthy. It deals with the collection, management and storage of personal information. A privacy policy should be used where your business acquires any sort of personal data, for example, email addresses. For some business it is a legal obligation under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). A clear and up-to-date privacy policy that explains how your website manages personal information will enable you to build customer trust and improve online business performance. An effective privacy policy depends on identifying your audience and keeping your policy plain and simple. It's also important to your privacy policy to the specifics of your business — this will help guide customers and hopefully result in an increase in transactions for your business.
Employment Employment agreement A well-drafted employment agreement could help safeguard against unforeseeable events, which is key to the longevity of your business. The agreement should clearly set out the expectations of employees and help avoid issues arising from disputes further down the track. These reasons illustrate the necessity of having a written employment agreement tailored to your business. Having a simple or complex
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