Quantum Pacific Ltd

Quantum Pacific Ltd (the applicant) sought judicial review of a decision made by the respondent, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The dispute concerned ASIC's power to issue a notice under s 1317D of the *Corporations Act 2001* (Cth) requiring the applicant to provide information and documents relevant to an investigation into alleged contraventions of the Act. The matter was heard in the Federal Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether ASIC had acted within its statutory powers when issuing the s 1317D notice. Specifically, the Court was required to determine if ASIC had a sufficient basis to form a reasonable suspicion that the applicant had contravened, or was involved in contravening, provisions of the *Corporations Act 2001* (Cth) to justify the issuance of the notice.

The Court reasoned that the threshold for forming a reasonable suspicion under s 1317D did not require ASIC to have gathered all available evidence or to have concluded that a contravention had occurred. Instead, it required ASIC to have a state of mind based on information that would lead a reasonable person to suspect that a contravention had occurred. The Court found that the information available to ASIC at the time of issuing the notice, including reports and intelligence gathered, was sufficient to ground a reasonable suspicion. Therefore, ASIC had acted within its statutory authority.