Regulatory Radar
Envision Legal tracks announcements from the Australian regulators, the legislation registers and the courts, and republishes what matters to business here twice a week. Free to read, no sign-up.
121
Items tracked
46
High priority
9
Closing in 30 days
Register last updated 19 September 2026.
Consultations closing soon
8 days left
Better targeting the Research and Development Tax Incentive, exposure draft
Treasury
8 days left
AFCA Scams Prevention Framework Rules consultation
AFCA
10 days left
ACCC service of documents, exposure draft amendment
Treasury
12 days left
Reform to non-compete clauses and other restraints, draft legislation
Treasury
12 days left
Charity secrecy reform, deregistration and finalised investigations
Treasury
12 days left
Improving the efficiency of climate-related financial disclosures
Treasury
19 days left
APRA revises proposals to implement the Government's Retirement Reporting Framework for final consultation
APRA
22 days left
CP 391 Access to information on the companies register
ASIC
25 days left
Establishing External Reporting Australia's standard-setting boards
Treasury
Priority
Practice area
Source
Jurisdiction
121 entries
Consultation on the governance arrangements for Australia's accounting and sustainability standard-setting boards. Mainly of interest to auditors, reporting entities and their advisers.
Submissions open. Closes 15 October 2026.
It may be worth flagging to corporate clients who follow financial reporting standard-setting.
Amends the ASIC Regulations 2001 to change which add-on insurance products are carved out of the 4-day deferred sales model. It affects insurers, brokers, car dealers and other intermediaries selling add-on cover.
Consider re-checking which add-on products your distribution partners treat as exempt, since the exemption list has moved.
A remade ASIC instrument setting the relief and conditions that apply to annual and half-year financial reporting under the Corporations Act. It affects listed and disclosing entities and their finance teams.
Consider confirming that the relief your reporting entities currently rely on has carried across into the new instrument before the next half-year close.
A remade ASIC instrument dealing with auditing requirements and related relief under the Corporations Act. It affects auditors, audit committees and the companies they report on.
It may be worth asking external auditors to confirm which conditions in the new instrument they are relying on this year.
Amends the market integrity rules that govern conduct on Australian securities markets. It affects market participants, brokers and their compliance functions.
Consider asking market-participant clients to diarise a review of trading supervision procedures against the amended rules.
Amends the Tax Agent Services Regulations 2022 to support stronger Tax Practitioners Board sanctions against registered agents for professional misconduct. It affects registered tax and BAS agents.
It may be worth alerting in-house tax agents to the widened sanction exposure and reviewing supervision arrangements.
Allianz sought a contribution from AIG for amounts it paid an insured, but the Court held AIG's difference in conditions clause made its policy excess-only, so there was no double insurance and no contribution owed. It matters to insurers and brokers arranging layered or overlapping construction and liability cover.
Consider checking how difference-in-conditions wording sits across programmes where a client is insured under more than one policy.
Three car manufacturers improved access to repair information for independent repairers following ACCC investigations. Combined with the Subaru case, it shows sustained enforcement of the motor vehicle information sharing scheme.
Consider checking compliance with mandated information-sharing duties before the regulator makes contact.
Amends the Insurance Contracts Regulations 2017 to put in place the operating detail for the ban on life insurers using genetic test results when deciding whether to offer cover or on what terms.
Consider checking underwriting questionnaires, agent scripts and data-retention practices against the new restrictions.
Makes amendments to the Australian Accounting Standards, which feed directly into what companies must report in their statutory accounts. It affects all entities preparing financial reports under the Corporations Act.
Consider asking finance to confirm the effective date and whether early adoption changes this year's disclosures.
Varies the amount a purchaser must withhold on property and other asset acquisitions from foreign resident vendors. It affects purchasers, conveyancers and anyone settling a transaction with a foreign vendor.
Consider updating settlement checklists and withholding calculations used by the property and M&A teams.
The Full Court held that the arbitration clause in a CFD trading platform's standard-form user agreement was void as an unfair contract term, so the class action stays in court rather than going to arbitration. It matters to anyone relying on arbitration or dispute-resolution clauses in consumer-facing standard form contracts.
Consider reviewing standard-form terms for arbitration, class-action waiver and venue clauses that could now be attacked as unfair.
The Court refused an application that the judge step aside from an employment case because of her membership of the airline's Chairman's Lounge, finding no actual or apprehended bias arose from lounge membership alone.
It may be worth noting the threshold set here before advising a client to run a recusal application on association grounds.
The ACCC's airline monitoring report found the major carriers posted strong earnings despite higher fuel costs. It keeps aviation competition and pricing on the regulator's watchlist.
It may be worth noting continued ACCC interest in aviation pricing if the business has significant travel or freight exposure.
An 8-schedule Act giving the Tax Practitioners Board new powers to suspend registrations and issue penalties and infringement notices for adviser misconduct, and reworking parts of the merger control regime in the Competition and Consumer Act so an unnotified merger is voidable rather than void.
Consider briefing transaction teams on the change from void to voidable for unnotified mergers, and flagging the new Board sanctions to any tax advisory practice in the group.
An ASIC instrument setting the terms on which directors' interests must be disclosed, remade for the current relief cycle. It affects listed company secretaries and boards.
It may be worth refreshing director interest notice templates and the company secretary's checklist against the remade instrument.
Sets who counts as a qualified accountant for the purpose of the accountant's certificate used to classify wholesale and sophisticated investors. It affects fund managers, advisers and accountants issuing those certificates.
Consider checking that wholesale-client onboarding accepts certificates only from persons who still qualify under the remade instrument.
On an urgent ex parte application, the Court froze assets, restrained a director from travelling and ordered disclosure, after ASIC raised concerns about an unregistered property development scheme that raised about $19.1m from 111 investors via promissory notes.
Consider reviewing whether any client raising money through promissory notes is in fact operating a managed investment scheme requiring registration.
Realestate.com.au removed restrictive clauses from its agent contracts after an ACCC investigation. It is a reminder that platform terms limiting how customers deal with competitors attract competition scrutiny.
Consider reviewing standard contracts for exclusivity or restraint clauses that limit customers' dealings with rivals.
The Court stayed a superannuation release claim indefinitely after finding real doubt that the 74-year-old applicant had authorised the proceeding, and referred the solicitor's conduct to professional regulators. It matters to super trustees and to firms taking instructions where a third party is driving the claim.
Consider strengthening client identity and authority checks where instructions for a vulnerable client come through an intermediary.
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This register contains general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Envision Legal accepts no liability for any loss arising from reliance on this content. You should seek independent legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances. For enquiries, contact Envision Legal.