Before the amendment of 2020, section 10 provides the franchise will continue to be effective unless the registrar issues a written order to the franchisor to suspend, terminate or cancel the registration. That determine the period of effectiveness of the registration of franchise.

However, the new amendment inserted a new subsection 2 to say that the Registrar may at any time issue a written order to suspend, terminate or cancel the franchise subject to non-compliance of the franchise laws such as failure to submit annual reports or in breach of any laws within the Franchise Act.  

It is worth to note that the new amendment also inserted a new section 10A, which says that the franchisor may apply to the Registrar for renewal of the registration of franchise by submitting an application in such form as may be determined by the Registrar together with the prescribed fee within thirty days from the expiration date of such registration and that the Registrar may impose conditions if certain terms are not met by the franchisor under section 10(2).

In view of that, with the new amendments in 2020 making wave and that it will soon be effective in the coming days, Franchisors must be prepared to clear all their mess in the kitchen and correct whatever wrong, be it, the disclosure documents or the franchise agreements or other documents. Failure to do so may have an effect over the Franchise registration which franchisors work hard to obtain.