January 30, 2012

Personal Property Securities Register goes live

The Personal Property Securities Register commenced today, 30 January 2012.

Security interests which were previously registered on the following registers were migrated to the national PPS Register:

Commonwealth
•Australian Register of Ships (mortgages only)
•ASIC – Register of Company Charges (including provisional charges)
•Fisheries Register

New South Wales
•Register of Encumbered Vehicles (REVS NSW)
•Security Interest of Goods Register:
•stock mortgages originally registered under the Liens on Crops and Wool and Stock Mortgages Act 1989
•Bills of Sale from 1 January 2000
•current crop mortgages and all other interests registered under the Security Interests in Goods Act 2005
•Register of Co-operative Charges

Queensland
•Register of Encumbered Vehicles (REVS Qld)
•Bills of Sale Register (including Register of Liens on Crops of Sugar Cane)
•Register of Co-operative Charges

South Australia
•Vehicle Securities Register
The following registers maintained by the General Registry Office:
•Bills of Sale Register
•Stock Mortgages and Wool Liens Register
•Liens on Fruit Register
•Register of Co-operative Charges

Tasmania
•Register of Vehicle Security Interests
•Register of Bills of Sale, Stock, Wool and Crop Mortgages and Co-operative Charges

Victoria
•Vehicle Securities Register
•Register of Liens on Wool and Stock Mortgages (stock mortgages only)
•Register of Co-operative Charges

Western Australia
•Register of Encumbered Vehicles (REVS WA)
•Bills of Sale Register

Australian Capital Territory
•Register of Encumbered Vehicles (REVS ACT – from REVS NSW)
•General Register of Deeds and Instruments
•Register of Co-operative Charges

Northern Territory
•Register of Interests in Motor Vehicles and Other Goods (REVS NT – from REVS NSW)
•Lands Titles Registration and General Registry Office (Bills of Sale and stock mortgages)

If your existing security was on a register but was not migrated you have 24 months to register it on PPSR.

Any new security interests must be registered on the PPS Register to have priority against other creditors.

You can also now register many security interests which were not previously registrable eg reservations of title or equipment leases.

If you are a business which supplies goods on credit or provides credit for the purchase of goods and you are not sure whether you have a security interest which can be registered look at our security interest analysis or contact Langes for further information.

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Posted 30th January 2012 by admin in PPS register

January 11, 2012

Company charges: change to time for registering

Currently, a company charge must be lodged with ASIC within 45 days of being created or registered more than 6 months before an administration, liquidation, or deed of company arrangement of the grantor, whichever is the later, to ensure it is not void. (Section 266(1)(e) Corporations Act).

What are the rules for a company charge under PPSA?

Under changes to the Corporations Act which commence on 30 January 2012, when a company grantor is being wound up, an administrator appointed, or a deed of company arrangement executed (“the critical time”), any PPSA security interest which was perfected, registered or enforceable against a third party after the latest of:
a. six months before the critical time; or
b. 20 business days after the security agreement came into force;
c. a later time ordered by the Court under section 588FM;
would vest in the company and be available to creditors (section 588FL).

The Personal Property Securities Act does not generally impose any obligation to register a security interest at all or within a particular period of time. The PPSA also will not require a copy of a charge to be lodged.

Of course if a security interest is not promptly registered the secured party may lose priority against third parties or on the insolvency of the grantor. And a Purchase Money Security Interest must be lodged within 15 business days.

If you are taking a company charge as security it is critical to make sure it is registered on the PPS Register within 20 business days (15 business days if it is a Purchase Money Security Interest).

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Posted 11th January 2012 by admin in Legislation, PPS register

January 10, 2012

Introduction to Personal Property Securities Register

The PPS Register will commence on Monday 30 January 2012, with the REVS, Bills of Sale, Crop Liens, Stock Mortgages and ASIC Charges Registers closing for new registrations from close of business on Friday 27 January.

Here is a very brief (3 mins 45 seconds) recap on Personal Property Securities.

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

You can see a full size version here

You can see a list of our previous notes here.

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Posted 10th January 2012 by admin in PPS register

December 28, 2011

ASIC PPSR transition arrangements

ASIC has announced details of the closure of its Register of Company Charges from close of business on Friday 27 January 2012 leading up to the opening of the PPS Register on Monday 30 January.

All current registered charges will be migrated to the new PPS Register. But ASIC has advised that if a charge was registered provisionally with ASIC, whilst it will be transferred to the PPS it will be regarded as a transitional security interest which must be registered within 24 months to retain the original creation date.

All historical charge information e.g. charges that have been satisfied prior to 30 January 2012, will remain on the ASIC register and will be available for searching for 7 years. Therefore, after the Australian Register of Company Charges has closed, customers may need to search both the PPS Register and the ASIC Register to get the full history of charges for a company.

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Posted 28th December 2011 by admin in PPS register

December 19, 2011

PPS Determinations: fees, priorities, reports

Three determinations have been made under the Personal Property Securities Act in anticipation of registration commencement on 30 January 2012:

  • Fees: The Attorney General has determined the fees to apply. The fees include:
      1. To apply to register a financing statement that has no end time: $130
      2. To apply to register a financing statement with an end time of up to the end of the day 7 years after the registration time: $7.40
      3. To apply to register a financing statement with an end time of more than the end of the day 7 years after the registration time and up to the end of the day 25 years after the registration time: $37
      4. To apply to search the register using a grantor’s details, using the serial number by which collateral has been described or using a unique identifier allocated to a registered financing statement: $3.70

    • The fees will be higher if a person requires the contact centre to process an application or produce a document.

  • Priority of statutory interests: The Attorney General has determined to maintain the priorities that existed under the Corporations Act and Bankruptcy Act in relation to an administrator’s lien and a controlling trustee’s lien provided for under those Acts over company debts secured by a security interest.
  • Reports: The Registrar of Personal Property Securities has determined that he may produce the following reports:
      1. The registration of a security interest if the grantor is not an individual
      2. Any other matter relating to registered data in relation to the person
      3. Registrations that are due to expire in a particular period
      4. Registrations conducted in a particular period
      5. Searches conducted in a particular period
      6. Transactions that incur a fee and are conducted on the Register in a particular period

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Posted 19th December 2011 by admin in Legislation, PPS register

November 22, 2011

PPS Register commencement time decided

The Attorney-General has made a formal Determination that:

  • the migration time (of existing security interests to the PPS Register) is the start of 21 November 2011; and
  • the registration commencement time is the start of Monday 30 January 2012.

It is expected that the existing registers will be closed on the weekend of 28-29 January 2012 to permit the transfer to the new Register of all data as at close of business on 27 January 2012.

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Posted 22nd November 2011 by admin in Legislation, PPS register

Senate Committee report on PPS Register commencement extension

The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee’s Report on the Personal Property Securities Amendment (Registration Commencement) Bill 2011 has recommended the Bill be passed by the Senate subject to the Attorney-General’s Department revising and reissuing the Explanatory Memorandum.

The purpose of the Bill is to amend the PPS Act to ensure that it will not automatically commence on 1 February 2012 if the PPS Register is not ready for use by that date.

The Report quotes the Attiorney-General’s Department submission that “Based on the level of testing already undertaken and the progress of work across the program, the target dates that have been planned with industry are that data migration commences on 28 November 2011 and the registration commencement time is 30 January 2012. However, meeting these dates is dependent on an assessment of readiness after user acceptance testing is completed.”

The Department also advised the Committee that it has developed a communications campaign, which is proposed to begin the week commencing 22 January 2012 and continue through until June 2012.

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Posted 22nd November 2011 by admin in Legislation, PPS register

October 12, 2011

Personal Property Securities Amendment (Registration Commencement) Bill 2011

The Government has introduced the Personal Property Securities Amendment (Registration Commencement) Bill 2011 into Parliament.

UPDATE 25 November 2011: The Bill has been passed by both Houses.

If passed, the definition of “registration commencement time” will be amended so that the Attorney-General may determine any time other than 1 February 2012 as currently fixed by section 306 of the PPS Act.

Without the amendment, the Attorney-General could determine an earlier time for the registration commencement time. However, the Attorney-General could not determine a later time.

The amendment ensures that the relevant provisions will not automatically commence before the national online PPS register is ready to be made available for public use.

Any decision by the Attorney-General under the proposed amendments to determine the registration commencement time to be a date after 1 February 2012 would need to be made before that date is reached.

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Posted 12th October 2011 by admin in Legislation, PPS register

October 6, 2011

PPS Amendment Regulations made

The Personal Property Securities Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 1)
commenced on 6 October 2011.

The Regulations clarify and resolve some outstanding issues including:

  • Subregulation 1.4(1A) excludes all interests, including security interests, in the relevant statutory authorities, leases, licences or permits under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (Cth) and the Offshore Minerals Act 1994 (Cth) from the scope of the Act.
  • refining the definition of “motor vehicle”: The earlier definition of ‘motor vehicle’ was too broad and had the potential to create uncertainty, in particular when considering whether personal property met the definition of motor vehicle or an accession under the Act; for example, a battery installed in a forklift may have met the definition of a ‘motor vehicle’ under 1.7(3)(b)(i). This item narrows the definition of motor vehicle but it is still wide enough to cover the various definitions of motor vehicle found in State and Territory legislation.
  • excluding a lease or bailment of goods that is part of a pooling arrangement from the definition of ‘PPS Lease’
  • providing secured parties, in respect of those transitional security interests in motor vehicles which were not previously registrable by serial number on State or Territory registers, a period of 24 months within which their motor vehicles would be excluded from the definition in regulation 2.1 and not be transferable free of a security interest under subsection 45(1). For example, a plough used for agricultural production may meet the definition of motor vehicle in regulation 1.7 but not all state definitions.
  • clarifying the application of Corporations Act provisions to investment instruments.

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Posted 6th October 2011 by admin in Legislation

September 5, 2011

PPS Register commencement date deferral discussion

The risks of ineffective implementation of a transition to the new PPS Register on 31 October has generated discussion about deferring the registration commencement time to Monday 30 January 2012.

Under section 306(2) of the PPS Act the registration commencement time is 1 February 2012, unless the Attorney-General determines an earlier time (based on Royal Assent having been given on 14 December 2009).

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Posted 5th September 2011 by admin in PPS register