Love and Australian Securities and Investments Commission

The applicant, Mr. Love, sought review of a decision by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to refuse his application for an exemption from a statutory requirement. Mr. Love had ceased to be a relevant provider of financial services and, under new regulations, was required to complete a competency exam to re-register. He failed to meet this deadline, prompting ASIC's refusal. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered whether it should exercise its power to exempt Mr. Love from this statutory requirement.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether special circumstances existed that warranted exempting Mr. Love from the mandatory competency examination requirement. This involved assessing whether the circumstances presented by Mr. Love were sufficiently exceptional to justify overriding the legislative requirement designed to ensure the competence of financial services providers.

The Tribunal found that special circumstances did exist. It reasoned that the COVID-19 pandemic had significantly impacted Mr. Love's business operations, creating an unforeseen and unavoidable impediment to his ability to complete the required examination within the stipulated timeframe. Applying the principles governing the exercise of exemption powers, the Tribunal concluded that these pandemic-related disruptions constituted a sufficient basis for granting an exemption. Consequently, the Tribunal set aside ASIC's decision and substituted it with a decision to grant Mr. Love an exemption from the examination requirement.