New South Wales Consolidated Acts

FITNESS SERVICES (PRE-PAID FEES) ACT 2000 - SECT 8

8 Pre-payment of fees for period of more than 12 months

(1) A supplier who agrees to provide any fitness service under a fitness service agreement must not seek or accept a pre-paid fee for the provision of the service for a period that exceeds 12 months.

Maximum penalty: 1,000 penalty units.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), it does not matter whether the period during which the fitness service is to be (or might be) provided under a fitness service agreement is to be ascertained by reference to:

(a) consecutive days, weeks or months, or

(b) days, weeks or months in total.

(3) Nothing in subsection (1) prevents a supplier of a fitness service from seeking or accepting a pre-paid fee for a fitness service to be provided under a fitness service agreement for a period that exceeds 12 months (the "extended period") if:

(a) the fee is an instalment payable under the agreement, and

(b) the amount of the fee, together with the total amount of any other fee instalments payable under the agreement during the 12 month period immediately following the date the fee is sought or accepted, bears the same proportion to the total fees payable for the extended period under the agreement as the period of 12 months bears to the extended period.

Note: Assume that a supplier agrees to provide a fitness service under a fitness service agreement for a period of 3 years for $3000 payable by instalments. As the period of 12 months represents a third of the period of 3 years, subsection (3) would preclude the supplier from seeking or accepting fee instalments in any 12 month period during the term of that agreement for an amount greater than a third of $3000 (namely, $1000).