This article examines the issues with existing regulatory regime for, under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Unfair Contract Terms (UCTs) in Australia and how the Treasury released its Regulation Impact Statement for Decision, titled ‘Enhancements to Unfair Contract Term Protections’. The aim of the Impact Statement and related proposals is to make UCTs and unreasonable contracts unlawful.
This resource provides an overview on the recently passed legislation by the Financial Services Royal Commission. The specific legislation is the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response) Bill 2020. In particular, this summary examines the differences between this Bill and previous legislation and how it affects insurers.
This article describes the developments made to whistleblower laws and protections in Australia. Protections have been increased for whistleblowers; additionally, immunity policies have been outlined by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in order to further encourage the disclosures of misconduct.
This resource describes the release and impact of the Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered interim Measures in aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland an of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region. The success of applications submitted under the terms and requirements of the Arrangement have made it a compelling reason for parties, irrespective of origin, to select Hong Long as the seat of arbitration if they are doing business with parties in China Mainland.
This article has an update for the Shareholder Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Resolutions in Australia following their previous update in September 2020. Describing some of the recent changes and developments, their conclusion was that the increasing number of ESG resolutions demonstrates that activities are making full use of their ability to requisition shareholder resolutions.
This piece highlights the increasing pressure within Australia on companies to address the issue of climate change. In particular, it highlighted the amount of landmark climate change cases that have been issued in recent months to compel the government or specific directors and officers to compel action on climate change. Indeed, Australia is the second most active jurisdiction for climate change litigation, with the United States being first.
New Zealand – in a world first – introduced a bill requiring companies in the financial sector to disclose the impact of climate change on their businesses and how they plan to manage climate-related risks and opportunities. This resource takes a look at how the climate impact disclosure bill could impact businesses based in Australia.
In his address to the Committee for Economic Development Australia, Chair Rod Sims announced the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Compliance and Enforcement priorities for 2021. The ACCC’s priorities for 2021 are consistent with their 2020 update, but COVID-19’s impact has been taken into account, in addition to the various competition, consumer and aw reform matters.
In December 2020, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) of the government of Hong Kong issued a proposal to provide tax concession for interest distributed by eligible private equity funds which operate in Hong Kong. This proposal summarised and addressed comments and feedback from a prior response issued by the government of Hong Kong in August 2020. This article is a detailed submission on the August 2020 proposal.
This article provides a summary of the update on the United States (US) sanctions against Community Chinese Military companies and the implications for the securities market of Hong Kong. On 12 November 2020, the US President issued Executive Order 13959 (EO13959), which has caused significant market uncertainty; EO13959 prohibits certain transaction insecurities linked to what it has described as Communist Chinese Military Companies.