Printing Industries has just released a major business document with potential savings of thousands of dollars in legal fees for companies wanting the protection of a Terms and Conditions of Trade.
The industry standard Recommended Terms and Conditions of Trade, a benchmark reference document for companies in all sectors and of all sizes, has been released after a complete revision.
The document is an aggregation of several years in-use feedback and months of painstaking research by a Printing Industries legal team to ensure it reflects changes in technology, contemporary legislation and the new Personal Properties Securities Act.
It covers a range of issues industry companies may encounter including under and overs; copyright; quotations; invoicing and charges; goods delivery, collection and rejection; payment methods, interest and terms; nonpayment clauses; liability with proofs, electronic data, customer data and loss; periodicals – scheduling, style alteration, overset, outside work, customer materials, insurance and responsibility. Ideas, electronic media handling and storage is also covered along with the GST and recently introduced Personal Properties Securities Act.
The project was managed by Printing Industries National Manager for Policy and Government Affairs Hagop Tchamkertenian and supported by the association’s legal team comprising National Manager Employee Relations, OH&S and Legal, Charles Watson and Employee Relations Adviser Ni Gao.
“The team went through the document line by line over many months and carried out the necessary updates to ensure that it reflected contemporary legislation and changes in customer engagement and the kind of work being handled by our members,” Mr Tchamkertenian said.
“They were assisted by Melbourne based legal firm Landers and Rogers in relation to the new Personal Properties Act.
“We now have the most comprehensive Recommended Terms and Conditions of Trading available for almost a decade.”
Mr Watson said Printing Industries recommended that the document be used in its entirety in all commercial dealings by printing companies.
“While it can be selectively used to supplement a business’s existing terms of trade or tailored to specific needs, we recommend companies familiarise themselves with all its content and use it in its entirety for all their customer dealings,” he said.
“The document comes with a guide to how best to do this.”
Mr Watson said any company wanting to develop such a document would be charged “several thousand dollars” by law firms.
“We have done all the required work to create this benchmark document and will make it available to our members for free as part of our service commitment to them,” he said.
Mr Tchamkertenian said customisable electronic versions of the document would be accessible to all Printing Industries members from Wednesday 6 July via Printing Industries website www.printnet.com.au (member login required) Non-members wishing to obtain a copy of the document can do so for $495 by calling (02) 8789 7316.
Access Recommended Terms and Conditions of Trading download page here (Member login required)
Printing Industries Association of Australia
www.printnet.com.au
