Bills Digest No. 29 2001-02
Corporations (Fees) Amendment Bill 2001
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Corporations (Fees) Amendment Bill
2001
Date Introduced: 7 June 2001
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Treasury
Commencement: On the commencement of item 1 of
Schedule 1 to the Financial Services Reform Bill 2001. Subject to
certain exceptions, the Financial Services Reform Bill will
commence on a day to be fixed by Proclamation on or after the
commencement of the Corporations Act 2001. The Government
has states its intention that the Financial Services Reform Bill
2001 will commence on 1 October 2001.
To provide for
the imposition of charges on market licensee holders relating to
the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's:
-
- role in the supervision of self-listing of markets, and
-
- function in the rules and procedures that are to apply in the
case of conflicts, or potential conflicts, between commercial
interests of licensee's and the need for a licensee to ensure a
market operates in a fair, orderly and transparent way.
This Digest should be read in conjunction with
the Digest for the Financial Services Reform Bill 2001.
The Financial Services Reform Bill
2001
The Financial Services Reform Bill 2001 requires
that a person who operates a financial market must hold an
Australian Financial Services Licence. Under the proposed licensing
regime, licensees will have the primary responsibility for the
operation of markets and facilities. Proposed section 798C of the
Financial Services Reform Bill 2001, deals with self-listing of
markets (eg. the ASX is listed on the ASX and shares in the ASX are
tradeable on the exchange). The proposed section requires that a
market licensee may be included in a relevant market's official
list. Where this occurs, the financial products of the licensee may
be traded on the market, if the licensee has entered into such
arrangements as the Australian Securities and Investments
Commission (ASIC) requires for:
-
- dealing with possible conflicts of interest that might arise
from the products being able to be traded on the market; and
-
- the purposes of ensuring the integrity of trading in the
licensee's financial products (proposed subsection 798C(2) of the
Financial Services Reform Bill 2001).
Proposed subsection 798C(4) of the Financial
Services Bill 2001, provides that before, and at all times while,
the licensee is included in the market's official list, the
market's listing rules must provide for ASIC to make decisions and
to take action in relation to those matters and matters relating to
those matters, including:
-
- the admission of the licensee to the market's official
list;
-
- the removal of the licensee from that list; and
-
- allowing, stopping or suspending the trading on the market of
the licensee's financial products.
Proposed section 798E of the Financial Services
Reform Bill 2001, provides for the making of regulations in
relation to the rules and procedures that are to apply in the case
of conflicts, or potential conflicts, between the commercial
interests of the licensee and the need for the licensee to ensure
that the market operates in a way that promotes the objectives of
fairness, orderliness and transparency. In particular, the
regulations may deal with:
-
- identifying when a conflict, or potential conflict, is taken to
arise;
-
- empowering ASIC, instead of a licensee, to make decisions and
to take action under the relevant market's operating rules in
relation to a conflict or potential conflict (proposed paragraph
798E(2)(b) of the Financial Services Reform Bill 2001); and
-
- empowering ASIC to require a licensee to take action under the
relevant market's operating rules in relation to a conflict or
potential conflict.
The provisions contained in this Bill amend the
Corporations (Fees) Act 2001 to provide for fees which the
ASIC may charge in relation to:
-
- the functions conferred on ASIC by the listing rules under
proposed subsections 798C(2) and 798C(4) of the Financial Services
Reform Bill 2001; and
-
- the performance by ASIC of functions provide for in regulations
under proposed paragraph 798E(2)(b) of the Financial Services
Reform Bill 2001.
Item 1 of Schedule 1 amends the
definition of chargeable matter in subsection 4(1) of the
Corporations (Fees) Act 2001, adding two new matters to
the list of matters for which ASIC may levy a charge, namely:
-
- the functions conferred on ASIC by the listing rules under
proposed subsections 798C(2) and 798C(4) of the Financial Services
Reform Bill 2001; and
-
- the performance by ASIC of functions provides for in
regulations under proposed paragraph 798E(2)(b) of the Financial
Services Reform Bill 2001.
Item 3 of Schedule
1 amends section 6 of the Corporations (Fees) Act
2001 to provide that the fee, or total of the fees, charged
with respect to the above matters must not exceed $100 000 in
respect of each 12 month period for each licensee. The person
liable to pay the charge under the proposed amendments will be the
affected market licensee (item 4 of Schedule
1).
Ian Ireland
21 August 2001
Bills Digest Service
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2000
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Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library,
2001.
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