Edition 49, September 2007

ACCC authorises casual mall licensing code of practice

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has authorised the Shopping Centre Council of Australia's casual mall licensing code of practice.

The Shopping Centre Council of Australia is a representative body for shopping centres throughout Australia. Its code aims to provide balanced guidelines for casual mall licensing, which involves traders, generally for a short period, occupying part of the common area of shopping centres.

Casual mall licensing has become an increasingly common feature of shopping centres in Australia. Common users of casual mall licences include product launches, demonstrations and brand awareness campaigns.

The code places some restriction on the circumstances in which a shopping centre proprietor can grant a casual mall licence to a competitor of an existing tenant. However, the ACCC considers these restrictions to be minimal.

The restrictions apply only in respect of granting a casual mall licence that places a competitor directly adjacent to or in front of an existing tenant, and only in limited circumstances. Where the restrictions do apply, casual mall licensees potentially affected by the arrangements have a range of alternatives, including locating in a different area of the shopping centre.

The ACCC considers that the provisions balance the reasonable and consistent treatment of permanent retail tenants with the introduction of casual mall licensees within a shopping centre. This in turns allows them to make better informed business decisions.

The code also contains general disclosure obligations that are in line with those that apply to landlords more generally under state and territory retail tenancy legislation. In effect, the code extends these general disclosure requirements to apply to casual mall licensing.

The code is modelled on an existing casual mall licensing code enacted by the South Australian Government as a schedule to the South Australian Retail and Commercial Leases Act, which has been operating successfully since 2002.

The code is voluntary, and individual shopping centres retain discretion over whether or not to adopt it.

For more information visit www.accc.gov.au (Select 'Public registers'> 'Authorisations and notifications registers' > 'Authorisations register')

This nformation is reproduced under licence from the ACCC

This page was generated on 18 February, 2010

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