IT agreements

IT agreements are often vitally important to not-for-profits. Common IT agreements include:

• software licences

• web-hosting agreements

• cloud services agreements

• internet service agreements

• telephone or other communication agreements

• hardware purchase and maintenance agreements, and 

• website or software development agreements

There are key legal issues your organisation may need to be aware of when entering into an IT agreement, especially when an Australian organisation enters into an agreement with a provider overseas. It’s always important to read the terms of the agreement.

Issues in IT agreements which may give rise to legal risk include:

• clarity about when the agreement starts

• automatic renewal (where you sign up for a certain period and the contract automatically renews unless you give notice)

• the need for clear descriptions of the product or service being supplied

• the incorporation of additional documents into the IT agreement by the supplier

• unilateral changes to the IT agreement by the supplier (that is, changes which do not need to be agreed by the other party)

• warranties for defects

• overseas providers and determining which law applies - this can mean is harder to enforce your rights under the contract if you have an issue with your service

• indemnities, limitations and exclusions of liability, and

• data security and privacy

For more detailed guidance on IT agreements, see our fact sheet 'IT Agreements' below. This fact sheet summarises features of common IT agreements, outlines key legal issues your organisation may need to be aware of when entering into IT agreements and sets out how to manage risks associated with IT agreements.

Extra Resources

Related Not-for-profit Law Resources 

See our webpages on:

• Understanding Contracts  includes resources on contracts, Consumer Guarantees for not-for-profits and Unfair Contract Terms

• Intellectual Property includes information on intellectual property, including ownership, protection and infringement of intellectual property, and selling and licensing of intellectual property

• Privacy includes information on privacy law

Other Related Resources 

• ImproveIT.  ImproveIT’s website features resources to help community and health organisations understand information and communication technology

• Telecommunications Ombudsman, Guidance notes - contracts for information on telecommunication contracts and remedies available to customers

• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Unfair Contract Terms for information on the unfair contract terms regime, and in particular, the types of contracts covered by this regime

• Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), Sending personal information overseas. This resource explains the obligations on organisations when sending personal information overseas

• Australian Government, Cyber security risk management for fact sheets on cybercrime and tips on how to protect your organisation from cyber threats

• Australian cyber security centre (ACSC), Cloud Computing Security Considerations for information on risks of cloud computing and methods to manage these risks

• Australian cyber security centre (ACSC), Cloud computing security considerations for information on different types of cloud computing and common issues to consider

• Australian cyber security centre (ACSC), Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents for a list of eight strategies to assist organisations in protecting their systems against cyber security incident risks