On 13 June 2012 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) released a list of the applications it has received for new top level...
The decision of the High Court in the James Hardie litigation has important implications for non-executive directors (and those who advise them), for general counsel, company secretaries and others...
On 16 May 2012, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services (Committee) tabled its report on its inquiry in relation to the collapse of Trio Capital the largest
The Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Bill 2012 was introduced to Parliament on 23 May 2012. The Bill amends the Privacy Act 1988 (Act) and implements the Government...s first stage...
The confidentiality of commercially sensitive information can be jeopardised by the operation of s 275 of the PPSA. If any document contains provisions which constitute a "security interest" for the
On 28 March 2012, the Commissioner issued Draft Taxation Ruling TR 2012/D1 (the Draft Ruling) which sets out the Commissioner's views, in draft, in respect of the meaning of'income of the trust
On 28 May 2012 (subject to the passage of legislation through State parliaments), a new national business names register will commence, allowing businesses to register their name nationally through...
The Senate Committee has handed down its report on the Credit Reporting Exposure Draft Bill. The Draft Bill is the second of four parts of the Government's first stage response to the Australian...
In January, the Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee (CAMAC) published its report on the definition of derivatives under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The report was prepared at the...
The Clean Energy Futures package announced in 2011 includes the carbon pricing mechanism, the new $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the $1.2 billion Clean Technology Program and the...
This article discusses the implications of the Federal Court decision in the case brought by Optus against the NRL and the AFL in relation to Optus' "TV Now...
On 12 December 2011, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission published guidance Regulatory Guide 230...on the use of financial information prepared other than in accordance with...
On 21 December 2011, the Commissioner of Taxation issued Draft Taxation Ruling TR 2011/D8 (Draft TR) on 'Section 254T of the Corporations Act and the assessment and franking of dividends paid
The Personal Property Securities Act (PPSA) and Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) took effect on 30 January 2012. The PPSA and PPSR have replaced a large number of Commonwealth, State...
The Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims, has recently announced the Commission's key goals for 2012 and outlined the five 'high level objectives
This article considers the decision of the New South Wales Supreme Court of Appeal in Chase Oyster v Hamo. The case is authority for the supervisory jurisdiction of courts being available to quash...
The Government's carbon pricing scheme commences on 1 July 2012. This article outlines the competition and consumer law compliance implications of the "carbon tax" that are relevant to virtually
On 6 June 2012, the new anti-competitive price signalling laws will come into effect. While the Government at this stage only intends to apply these laws to the banking sector, recently proposed...
On 28 November 2011, Treasury issued a Discussion Paper in response to, among other things, concerns about the new dividend provisions inserted into the Corporations Act by the Corporations
On 21 June, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) issued two draft 'fact sheets' relating to the taxation of the payment of dividends. This follows amendments to section 254T of the Corporations Act...
In our May 2011 issue of Acumen, we published an article about the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program to be launched by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers...
The package of legislation to implement the carbon pricing mechanism (also called the carbon tax) was introduced into the Federal Parliament on 13 September 2011. The Clean Energy Bill 2011 (Cth...
On 29 August 2011, the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation released an Exposure Draft of the Corporations Amendment (Future of Financial Advice) Bill...
Recent cases demonstrate that companies should immediately perform a comprehensive audit of trade practices compliance programs to ensure they are up to date, effectively implemented and well...