16 September 2003

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Unfair Contracts

The Law Commission's current proposals to consolidate and
extend the scope of the existing legislation on unfair terms
will impact heavily on the banking community if ever
implemented into the law. The "Unfair Terms in Contracts"
consultation paper (Number 166) proposes to extend the
protection available to businesses so that certain "unfair"
terms in a standard form "business-to-business" contract,
for instance, those that make it hard for a business to
cancel a long-term contract, or that commit to paying price
increases, could be challenged in future. These are currently
outside the ambit of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977
("UCTA") which applies only to exclusion and limitation of
liability clauses in business-to-business contracts and are
also outside the scope of the Unfair Terms in Consumer
Contracts Regulations 1999 as there is no consumer contract.

To access this article in full please click on the link below:
http://www.law-now.com/CS2000/internet/EN/co50law-now/co55archive/2003/banksaffectedbyunfairterms.htm

For further information please contact Simon Beale at
simon.beale@cmck.com or on + 44 (0)20 7367 2822



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