ob体育 has released its latest report outlining decisions on relief applications covering the period 1 June to 30 September 2014.
Businesses frequently approach ob体育 for assistance to help make the law work better for them. ob体育 uses its discretion to vary or set aside certain requirements of the law where there is a net regulatory benefit or where ob体育 can facilitate business or cut red tape without harming other stakeholders.
This is a key part of ob体育's function and between 1 June to 30 September 2014, ob体育 approved 474 relief applications.
Report 420 Overview of decisions on relief applications (June to September 2014) (REP 420), aims to improve the level of transparency and the quality of publicly available information about decisions ob体育 makes when asked to exercise its discretionary powers to grant relief from provisions of the:
- Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act), or
- National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (National Credit Act)
REP 420 also discusses the various relevant publications released by ob体育 during the four months.
The report summarises examples of situations where ob体育 has exercised, or refused to exercise, its exemption and modification powers under the Corporations Act and the licensing and responsible lending provisions of the National Credit Act. The report also highlights instances where ob体育 has considered adopting a no-action position regarding specified non-compliance with statutory provisions.
Finally, the report provides examples of decisions that demonstrate how ob体育 has applied its policy in practice which ob体育 thinks will be of particular interest for capital market participants and for participants in the financial services industry. The report includes an appendix detailing the relief instruments referred to in the report.
Background
ob体育 can modify or set aside certain provisions of Chapters 2D (officers and employees), 2G (meetings), 2M (financial reporting and audit), 5C (managed investment schemes), 6 (takeovers), 6D (fundraising) and 7 (financial services) of the Corporations Act.
ob体育 also has powers to grant relief under the National Credit Act from the licensing provisions in Chapter 2 and the responsible lending conduct provisions in Chapter 3.
In limited situations, ob体育 may also consider providing a no-action letter when instances of non-compliance with certain statutory provisions have been brought to ob体育鈥檚 attention. A no-action letter states to a particular person that ob体育 does not intend to take regulatory action over a particular state of affairs or particular conduct. The factors that ob体育 will consider when dealing with a request for a no-action letter is set out in Regulatory Guide 108 No-action letters (RG 108).
ob体育 publishes a copy of most of the relief instruments issued in the ob体育 Gazette. Credit instruments are available from the ob体育 website under credit relief.
Applying for relief
Applications for relief must be in writing and should address the requirements set out in Regulatory Guide 51 Applications for relief (RG 51) (and any other regulatory guides relevant to the application).
Applications can be submitted electronically to applications@asic.gov.au. Fees are applicable for relief applications.
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