The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, Chris Pearce, today released a package of Corporations Amendment Regulations for public consultation, to implement the first part of the Government’s commitment to simplifying the corporate and financial services regulatory system.
Mr Pearce’s announcement today followed on from last year’s extensive consultation process that was undertaken to seek views from stakeholders on what aspects of the corporate and financial services law could be improved. This consultation was conducted to ensure that any proposed law operates as effectively as possible.
“Today’s release of Corporations Amendment Regulations for public consultation marks an important achievement towards reducing the regulatory burden on business,” Mr Pearce said.
“I am pleased to release these draft regulations for public consultation. These regulations will implement some of the more technical amendments to address issues that were identified during the Corporate and Financial Services Regulation Review process last year. This builds on the Refinements to Financial Services Regulation, which I introduced in 2005, to further improve disclosure in the financial services industry,” Mr Pearce said.
In particular, the draft regulations will enable financial service providers to incorporate information by reference to other documents that the client has been provided to produce more concise disclosure documents for consumers. The draft regulations also contain several other measures to streamline disclosure requirements which will reduce the regulatory burden on business.
“The proposed amendments will improve the operation of corporate and financial services regulation in Australia, will reduce the regulatory burden and will improve industry efficiencies,” Mr Pearce said.
The proposed regulations have been developed in consultation with industry and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and are available electronically from the Treasury website (www.treasury.gov.au). Submissions should be received by the Treasury by 23 April 2007.
26 March 2007
CANBERRA
Contact:
Conor O'Brien - 02 6277 2088 or 0402 970 515