The Australian Government has released its much-anticipated response to the Commonwealth Attorney-General Department’s report on its review of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). The Report recommended wholesale amendments to Australia’s principal privacy legislation and contained 116 proposals for consideration by the government.
Australian business communications have been modernized with effect from 15 September 2023 by amendments to the Corporations Act which allow all documents under the Act to be signed electronically and most documents to be sent electronically. This is a welcome development building upon gradual progress in this area since mid 2020.
The laws for electronic execution of documents by companies, settled in early 2022, are not changing.
The Final Report of the Independent Review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW) (Biodiversity Act) dated August 2023 (Report) was tabled in the NSW Parliament on 24 August 2023.
The Report is critical of the credibility of the Biodiversity Act and the offsets secured under that Act’s regime, and disapproving of the status and trajectory of biodiversity in NSW. The Report recommends a refocusing of the Biodiversity Act towards a nature positive strategy with improved protections for ecosystems.
On 22 July 2023, the Competition and Consumer (Consumer Data Right) Amendment Rules (No. 1) 2023commenced. The amending rules enhance the existing Consumer Data Right (CDR) regime for business consumers by improving access to and use of CDR data for businesses and enabling more participants in the CDR regime to use third-party service providers.
For the fourth time since its inception in September 2016, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has extended the transitional relief period for Foreign Financial Services Providers (FFSPs) for a further 12 months until 31 March 2025. In its introduction of the ASIC Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2023/588 on 4 August 2023, FFSPs have been offered a further extension on relief from the requirement to hold an Australian financial services license when providing certain financial services.
A recent High Court decision and the re-introduction of proposed legislation to Parliament which will make it easier to prosecute bribery of foreign officials, both emphasize the importance of companies having adequate procedures in place to ensure that their employees and agents are not engaging in conduct which could expose the company to significant fines.
We are pleased to announce that Baker McKenzie has published the FY24 edition of Directors Duties in Australia.
Matters covered in the guide include common law and statutory duties, financial reporting, continuous disclosure, insider trading and other topical issues including managing environmental and cyber security risk.
Regulatory developments in relation to online content continue at pace. Australia’s classification regime for films and computer games is set to be revamped. Meanwhile, new regulatory powers to combat misinformation and disinformation are proposed.
With the rapid rise of environmental consciousness in Australia and abroad, consumer-facing businesses are increasingly making claims about the environmental qualities of their products, services and business operations. While the ACCC has had guidance on the practice of “greenwashing” for some time, policing of environmental and sustainability claims has been a core area of focus for the ACCC in the last 12 months.
Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled Blog Series: Sanctions Enforcement Around the World – Five Eyes Partners agree to coordinate enforcement on export controls on 11 July 2023. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.