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You can now listen to or download my first podcast .
This month I discuss corporate disclosure, saying sorry and information security.
The podcast goes for 9 minutes 45 seconds and is 9.44mb.
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The Treasurer has released a discussion paper reviewing civil and criminal sanctions in the Corporations Act 2001 and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (corporate law).
One of the issues examined in the paper is whether the expanded use
of civil sanctions in corporate law would provide additional options in
deterring bad corporate behaviour.
The paper also examines whether higher penalty amounts for civil
breaches would better protect consumers and reflect community
expectations.
The Treasurer also released a separate paper,
seeking comments on the use and effectiveness of infringement notices
issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for breaches of the continuous disclosure provisions in
preparation for the Government’s review of the notices.
Comments on both papers are invited by 1 June 2007.
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ACCC Chair Graeme Samuel has spoken about the role of regulators in protecting consumers from anti-competitive conduct by providers of new technology.
His speech to the Australian Broadcasting Summit focuses on the technology changes, including digital television and digital radio, and the cross-media laws.
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The Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs has approved the
recommendations contained in the Fringe Credit Providers – Decision
Making Regulatory Impact Statement and Final Public Benefit Test.
Drafting has now commenced on an exposure draft Bill which will be
released for consultation towards the latter half of this year.
"Fringe" credit providers refers to all those credit providers on the fringe of the credit industry including, for example, payday lenders, micro lenders and elements of the non-conforming market.
The recommendations include greater enforcement of existing law as well as intervention to improve consumer protection through amendments to the Consumer Credit Code.
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The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, Chris Pearce, has released for public comment the Insider Trading Position and Consultation Paper.
The paper sets out the Government’s position on many of the recommendations set out in the Insider Trading Report released by the Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee (CAMAC)on 20 November 2003.
The Government proposes to accept 31 of the recommendations of
CAMAC (on which no further consultation will be made), but is seeking the views of the public on another 7 recommendations.
Importantly one of the outstanding issues is what is "inside information"?
Submissions should be received no later than 2 June 2007.
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The Human Services (Enhanced Service Delivery) Bill 2007 (now available at ComLaw) passed through the House of Representatives on 28 February and has been introduced into the Senate.
Peter Timmins at Open and Shut gives a detailed analysis of the debate so far.
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The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services has tabled its March 2007 report on its statutory oversight of ASIC.
The report deals with a number of issues raised with ASIC including:
The sole recommendation is "that ASIC continues to seek an amendment to the disclosure requirements in the Corporations Act to increase the $50,000 threshold applying to promissory notes."
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