Contract and Commercial Law Bill passed

Legislation to modernise and bring together important law underpinning contracts and commercial transactions passed its third reading in Parliament today, Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson said.

“This has been a major statute revision exercise,” Mr Finlayson said. “The substantive law has not changed but the rules contained in 11 contract and commercial Acts, some dating back to 1908, have been revised and consolidated into a single piece of legislation.

“The law is clearer and easier to understand which will help reduce regulatory costs for both individuals and businesses.

“This Government is committed to an accessible, clear and up-to-date statute book which is why we introduced the triennial statute revision programme in December 2014.

“The Contract and Commercial Law Bill was the first bill on the statute revision programme and work is underway to identify other areas of law that would benefit from this programme in the future,” Mr Finlayson said.

The Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 comes into force six months after Royal assent.