A/Prof. May Fong Cheong, from the School of Private and Commercial Law, Faculty of Law & Justice of the University of New South Wales Sydney, delivered a lecture on the Unconscionable Conduct under the Australian Consumer Law to the students at the invitation of the College on Haidian Campus on the evening of 15 April, 2025.

The lecture was moderated by Director of the Institute for the Laws of Hong Kong Macao and Taiwan Regions of the College A/Prof. Xu Yan. Discussants included Deputy Director of the Institute Dr. Yang Ziran, Prof. Liu Wenjie and Lecturer Xu Zhiren from the Institute of Sino-German Law of the College. This lecture was the first in a series of lectures to celebrate the anniversary of the University.

In the lecture, with her profound academic accumulation, Cheong systematically combed the legal origin and development of the Australian doctrine of unconscionability. She pointed out that the doctrine has its origins from the English doctrine and that the statutory doctrine was established in 1986 and is now captured under sections 20-22 of the Australian Consumer Law. She then illustrated the increasing number of judges who have applied section 21(4)(B) of the Australian consumers act in recent years in the light of recent jurisprudence from Australian courts, which showed the trend of the modernisation of judicial practice. In addition, Cheong also focused on the limitations in resolving unconscionability-based disputes of the Australian Consumer Act and its latest legislative trends. The in-depth explanation provided a new perspective for the audiences to understand the Australian doctrine of unconscionability, and stimulated the interest of teachers and students in the comparative study of transnational law.

At the end of the lecture, Yang, Liu and Xu Zhiren raised questions from the perspective of China's consumer protection law and the methodology of comparative law respectively, and Cheong responded one by one. The students also enthusiastically exchanged with her on the recognition Criteria, legal transplant adaptability and other issues of doctrine of unconscionability. Combined her own research experience, Cheong provided detailed guidance for students' academic thinking.