Regulatory Radar

Auditors, reporting entities, standard setters and advisers with an interest in the governance of Australia's financial and sustainability reporting standards may wish to review the exposure draft to understand how the three new standard setting boards will operate once External Reporting Australia is established on 1 December 2026. Entities preparing for upcoming sustainability reporting obligations in particular may want to monitor how the sustainability standards board's governance and procedures are finalised, given this body will have carriage of that standard setting function going forward. Submissions could be made before the consultation closes on 15 October 2026 if governance arrangements would affect stakeholder input into future standards.

Companies that currently claim the Research and Development Tax Incentive, and their tax advisers, could begin modelling how the proposed changes to the core and supporting activity distinction, the intensity premium threshold, the refundable offset age limit and the expenditure thresholds would affect their claims if the exposure draft proceeds largely unchanged. Businesses with long R&D project cycles or that rely on the refundable offset beyond ten years of operation may wish to consider making a submission before the consultation closes, given industry bodies have already raised concerns about those specific elements. As the measure is proposed to commence from 1 July 2028, there is time to plan, but early engagement may help shape the final design.

Businesses, advisers and other users that rely on bulk or routine searches of the companies register for due diligence, credit assessment, debt recovery or compliance purposes may wish to review the proposed access categories to assess whether their current search practices would remain available under the new settings. Entities that currently access director addresses or other personal information as part of standard processes could consider making a submission before the consultation closes on 12 October 2026 if the proposed restrictions would affect established workflows or systems that depend on current levels of register access.

Superannuation trustees could begin mapping the revised SRS 607.0, SRS 611.1 and SRS 101.0 requirements against the data they currently hold, to identify where new collection or system work would be needed well before the expected late 2027 start of data collection. Given the streamlined data requirements and new reporting practice guide, trustees that found the earlier draft burdensome may want to revisit their original concerns and consider a submission by 9 October 2026 if issues remain. Boards and risk committees may also wish to track how retirement phase reporting obligations interact with existing retirement income strategy and member outcomes assessment requirements.

Businesses that regularly receive or may receive ACCC compulsory notices, including those with directors, officers or registered addresses overseas, may wish to review how the firm or the business currently accepts and logs service of such notices, so that any change to permitted service methods can be incorporated once the amendment is finalised. It may also be worth confirming internally who is authorised to accept service on behalf of the business, since greater flexibility in service methods could mean documents are validly served through channels not currently monitored.

Not for profit clients and charity boards could be alerted that a Treasury consultation is underway that may lead to the ACNC disclosing more information about deregistrations and finalised investigations than it currently does. Governance committees may wish to consider how any future public disclosure of investigation outcomes could affect reputational risk management and existing communications protocols. Advisers to the sector could also track the consultation outcome before finalising governance policies that assume investigation findings remain confidential once a matter concludes.

Employers that use non-compete clauses, co-worker non-solicitation terms or cascading restraints in employment contracts, particularly for staff earning below the high income threshold, may wish to review those clauses against the exposure draft ahead of any final legislation. Businesses negotiating sale of business agreements that rely on restraint of trade clauses should note the draft Bill does not currently extend the non-compete ban to those arrangements, though definitions and scope may change before introduction. Businesses with no-poach or wage-fixing arrangements with competitors could consider the implications of those arrangements being treated as cartel conduct.

Entities covered by the Financial Accountability Regime may wish to review their current accountability maps and register submissions against the two proposed changes, particularly where key functions or direct report information is currently compiled as part of a wider governance or org-design process rather than specifically for FAR reporting. Given the short consultation window closing 2 October 2026, entities with a view on the practical effect of either change may wish to consider lodging a submission before that date.

Banks, telecommunications providers and digital platforms that are designated or likely to be designated under the Scams Prevention Framework could review the proposed Scam Rules against their existing internal dispute resolution processes, particularly the proposed complaint handling, information sharing and compensation provisions. Entities that hold dual membership as both financial firms and regulated entities may want to confirm how the Financial Firm Rules and the new Scam Rules will interact for complaints spanning both jurisdictions. Businesses preparing for the 31 March 2027 commencement could begin mapping staff training and complaint escalation pathways against the proposed timetable.

Organisations that collect, use or disclose personal information may wish to begin scoping what a fair and reasonable handling standard, a 72 hour breach notification timeframe and new controller and processor concepts would mean for current privacy policies, data handling agreements and incident response procedures. For professional service firms, this includes client data held under retainer and information shared with outsourced providers. Because the Bill remains an exposure draft that has not been introduced into Parliament, any changes made now should be treated as preparatory rather than final, with further adjustment likely once the government settles its position following consultation.

Entities already subject to mandatory climate related financial disclosure may wish to consider whether to make a submission before the 2 October 2026 closing date, particularly on the proposed assurance pathway and on how supply chain information requests are scoped. Businesses that supply data to a reporting entity, without necessarily being in scope themselves, may also want to review the proposals on limiting information requests across value chains. No current reporting obligation changes as a result of this consultation, so any internal review at this stage is about shaping future settings rather than responding to an immediate compliance requirement.

Providers of apps, games, websites and other online services may wish to assess now whether their service is likely to be accessed by children, or primarily concerned with children's activities, since that assessment determines whether the Code will apply once registered. Where it is likely to apply, relevant documents to review include privacy policies, consent flows for targeted advertising, age assurance processes and deletion request procedures. Because the final Code must be registered by 10 December 2026 and a breach will amount to a breach of the Privacy Act carrying civil penalties, compliance work is worth starting well before that date rather than waiting for the final text.

Foreign investors holding conditional approvals under Australia's foreign investment framework, and their advisers, could use the review as a prompt to catalogue the specific conditions attached to each existing approval, particularly tax-related conditions given Treasury's stated initial focus. Businesses that consider a particular condition duplicates obligations they already meet under another regulatory regime, such as tax reporting or anti-money laundering requirements, may wish to consider making a submission identifying that overlap. Existing approval conditions remain binding during the review, so compliance arrangements should continue unchanged until Treasury confirms any variation specific to a given approval.

Businesses that supply information to Commonwealth agencies, particularly material that could be commercially sensitive, may wish to note the clarified default under the updated FOI Guidelines, under which an agency's starting position is that documents released under FOI will be published on its disclosure log unless a specific exception applies. It may be worth considering, when providing sensitive material to an agency, whether to flag confidentiality concerns at the time of provision so the agency has a clear basis to consider whether an exception to disclosure log publication should apply.

Australian financial services and credit licensees could identify which, if any, of the eight instruments covered by CS 62 their current compliance arrangements rely on, for example relief relating to Financial Services Guides, superannuation dashboards or retail OTC derivative issuer financial requirements. Where a business has structured disclosure, notification or financial resource arrangements around one of these instruments, it may be worth diarising ASIC's final decision so that, if an instrument is allowed to lapse or amended beyond the proposed date change, alternative compliance arrangements can be put in place before the earlier self-repeal date would otherwise take effect.

Insurers and credit providers that are AFCA members could note that AFCA's confirmed FY2026 to 2027 Approach schedule includes an updated Approach to awarding interest in insurance complaints and a new Approach to credit reporting, and may wish to diarise the expected consultation windows for each so that relevant teams can engage when drafts are released. Firms handling interest calculations on insurance claims or credit reporting disputes may find it useful to review their current practices against AFCA's existing published Approaches now, ahead of the updated and new guidance expected later in the financial year.

Issuers, underwriters and advisers planning an initial public offering or other securities offer requiring a disclosure document could track the outcome of this consultation before finalising pre-lodgement communications strategies for an upcoming raise. In the meantime, marketing and investor relations teams may wish to review existing protocols for responding to market speculation against the current section 734 restrictions, since the proposed relief has not yet been made. Once ASIC finalises its position, equity capital markets teams are likely to need to update internal communication and compliance protocols to reflect the new instrument.

Corporate groups that rely on a deed of cross guarantee to obtain financial reporting relief for wholly owned subsidiaries may wish to check whether any group entities depend on the current instrument, and to watch for the finalised ASIC Corporations (Wholly-owned Companies) Instrument 2026/XX and its commencement for financial years ending on or after 1 January 2027. Groups should also note the government's broader intention to replace the deed of cross guarantee framework with a simplified statutory regime for group reporting relief, which may affect longer term reporting structures.

Registered tax practitioners should review their compliance with the Code of Professional Conduct ahead of 1 October 2026, given the introduction of new civil penalties specifically targeting Code breaches and the availability of contingent and interim suspension powers for registration failures or serious misconduct. Businesses that engage unregistered individuals or firms to provide tax agent services should be aware that new criminal and civil penalties will apply to unregistered conduct and false or misleading statements. Practitioners facing termination of registration should also note the extended ten year non-application period before reapplication is possible.

Insurers and distributors of add-on insurance products currently relying on the deferred sales model exemptions may wish to watch for the final regulations before the current exemptions expire on 5 October 2026, to confirm the extension has been made and that the classes of product they distribute remain covered. Distribution arrangements, point-of-sale scripts and systems built around the existing exempt classes should not need to change if the exposure draft is finalised as proposed, but it would be prudent to confirm the final list of exempt classes matches current sales practices once the regulations are made.