This Warranty can be added to a sale of goods agreement, a refund and returns policy or a terms of trade, and can be placed on a product listing page.

What is a Warranty?

The term is defined in the various sale of goods legislation (eg Sale of Goods Act 1923 (NSW); Goods Act 1958 (Vic); Sale of Goods Act 1896 (Qld); Sale of Goods Act 1895 (WA); Sale of Goods Act 1895 (SA); Sale of Goods Act 1896 (Tas); Sale of Goods Act 1972 (NT); Sale of Goods Act 1954 (ACT)) all of which have similar requirements (Acts). Warranty is defined as an agreement with reference to goods which are the subject of a contract of sale, but collateral to the main purpose of the contract, the breach of which gives rise to a claim for damages, but not a right to reject the goods and treat the contract as repudiated.

This precedent warranty clause relates to the warranty that the goods are free from defects in workmanship and materials. One must be mindful that a consumer has statutory rights in the form of consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) (located in schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)). These rights cannot be restricted, limited or modified by way of agreement (see section 64 of the ACL). A drafter needs to be careful not to misrepresent the statutory rights of a consumer under the consumer guarantees, otherwise sections 18 and 29(1)(m) of the ACL may be contravened.