The ACCC is increasing its scrutiny of franchisors that fail to maintain accurate and up-to-date profiles on the Franchise Disclosure Register.
Recent infringement notices show that registration is not a “set and forget” exercise. Franchisors must have systems in place to create, review, and confirm their profiles within the required timeframes.
What is the Franchise Disclosure Register?
The Franchise Disclosure Register is a publicly accessible register containing information about franchise systems operating in Australia.
It is intended to help prospective franchisees, existing franchisees, and their advisers identify and compare franchise opportunities before making significant financial commitments.
Information published on the register may include:
- The franchisor’s identity and contact details
- The number of franchised businesses in the network
- The industries and locations in which the franchise operates
- Establishment costs and ongoing payments
- The term of the franchise agreement
- Whether franchisees are required to contribute to particular funds
- Other information about the structure and operation of the franchise system
The register is therefore an important part of the disclosure framework established by the Franchising Code of Conduct.
What Must Franchisors Do?
Subject to limited exceptions, a franchisor must:
- Create a profile for each relevant franchise system
- Provide all mandatory information
- Have its profile on the register at least 14 days before entering into a franchise agreement
- Ensure that the information provided is accurate and capable of being substantiated
- Update or confirm the information every year
The annual obligation applies even where none of the information has changed. In that case, the franchisor must still log in and confirm that the existing information remains current.
A master franchisor may be exempt where it has only one Australian sub-franchisor. However, exemptions should be considered carefully rather than assumed.
When is the Annual Update Due?
The deadline depends on the franchisor’s financial year.
A franchisor must confirm or update its profile before the 14th day of the fifth month following the end of its financial year.
For franchisors operating on the usual Australian financial year ending on 30 June, the annual deadline is 14 November.
Franchisors should not leave the review until the deadline. Information may need to be collected from finance, operations, franchise development, and legal teams before the profile can be properly confirmed.
If a profile is not updated or confirmed on time, it may be marked as “out of date”. That warning is visible to prospective franchisees and the ACCC.
Recent ACCC Enforcement Action
The ACCC has issued a series of infringement notices concerning Franchise Disclosure Register obligations.
Luxottica Franchising Australia, which manages the Australian franchise operations of OPSM and Laubman & Pank, paid a penalty of $19,800 after the ACCC alleged that it had failed to maintain an up-to-date profile.
HN Macgregor Franchisor Pty Ltd, a Harvey Norman franchisor, paid a penalty of $15,650 after the ACCC alleged that it had failed to include mandatory information on the register before entering into an agreement with a franchisee.
Cash Converters Pty Ltd and Mobile Travel Agents Pty Ltd each paid a penalty of $16,500 after allegedly failing to complete the required annual update or confirmation of their register information.
Payment of an infringement notice does not, by itself, amount to an admission that the Franchising Code was contravened. However, these actions demonstrate that the ACCC is actively reviewing profiles and is prepared to take enforcement action where obligations have not been met.
Why Does an Out-of-Date Profile Matter?
An out-of-date profile is more than an administrative oversight.
It may:
- Undermine the reliability of information provided to prospective franchisees
- Suggest that the franchisor’s compliance systems are inadequate
- Expose the franchisor to infringement notices or court proceedings
- Delay the signing of new franchise agreements
- Create inconsistencies between the register, disclosure document, and franchise agreement
- Affect the confidence of prospective franchisees, lenders and professional advisers
The profile must also not contain false, misleading, or materially incomplete information. A franchisor should therefore do more than simply click a confirmation button. It should actively review whether the information remains correct.
The Register is Not the Disclosure Document
Franchisors should not confuse the annual register obligation with their separate disclosure document obligations.
Since the introduction of the new Franchising Code on 1 April 2025, franchisors no longer publish their disclosure document or key facts sheet on the register. However, they must still maintain a compliant disclosure document and provide it directly to prospective and existing franchisees when required.
The timing of the two obligations is also different.
For many franchisors using the Australian financial year:
- The disclosure document is generally updated by 31 October
- The Franchise Disclosure Register profile must then be confirmed or updated before 14 November
Completing one task does not automatically satisfy the other.
Practical Steps for Franchisors
Franchisors should adopt a formal annual compliance process that includes:
- Diarising both the disclosure document and register deadlines
- Allocating responsibility to a particular director, executive or compliance officer
- Reviewing the profile against the current disclosure document and franchise agreement
- Checking establishment costs, fees, payments and network numbers
- Verifying business names, ABNs, addresses and contact information
- Ensuring that any optional uploaded documents have been properly redacted
- Confirming that all information is accurate and capable of substantiation
- Retaining records showing when and how the review was completed
Franchisors operating multiple brands or franchise systems should also check whether a separate profile is required for each system.
The ACCC’s recent actions reinforce a simple message: Franchise Disclosure Register compliance is a continuing legal obligation, not a one-off administrative task.
A calendar reminder alone is not enough. Franchisors need an internal process that ensures the information placed before prospective franchisees is complete, current, and accurate.