ASIC Corporations (Unclaimed Compulsory Acquisition Consideration) Instrument 2026/4

Explanatory Statement

ASIC Corporations (Unclaimed Compulsory Acquisition Consideration) Instrument 2026/4

This is the Explanatory Statement for ASIC Corporations (Unclaimed Compulsory Acquisition Consideration) Instrument 2026/4. The Explanatory Statement is approved by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Summary

1.              The instrument relates to changes to the Unclaimed Monies Gazette (“the Gazette”). The instrument addresses privacy and security-related risks arising from the public availability of personal information in the Gazette.
2.              The instrument specifies that street names or numbers of any address are not to be included as part of the records published by companies in relation to people that are entitled to unpaid consideration following the compulsory acquisition of securities under Parts 6A.1 or 6A.3 of the Corporations Act 2001 (“the Act”).

Purpose of the instrument

1.              The purpose of the instrument is to prevent the publication of street names and numbers in future editions of the Gazette.
2.              ASIC maintains and publishes a database of unclaimed money records to help people find and reclaim lost money. ASIC also publishes an annual Gazette for unclaimed money records relating to the compulsory acquisition of securities under Parts 6A.1 or 6A.3 of the Act.
3.              ASIC is enhancing the privacy and security of personal information and addressing the risks associated with the public availability of personal information in unclaimed money records that are published in the Gazette.
4.              ASIC has already removed the public display of street names and numbers from unclaimed money search results on ASIC’s Moneysmart website. The instrument aligns the information published in the Gazette with the information published on ASIC’s Moneysmart website.

Consultation

1.              ASIC conducted a streamlined public consultation which invited feedback on the draft legislative instrument. The period of consultation ran from 7 to 28 November 2025 and involved the publication of a news item and a consultation information webpage on ASIC’s website.
2.              ASIC did not receive any submissions from the public consultation and no changes to the draft legislative instrument were made following the consultation.  

Operation of the instrument

1.              Under subsection 668A(4) of the Act, by the end of February each year, companies are required to publish in the Gazette a copy of the records kept under subsection 668A(1) as at the end of the previous December.
2.          Subsection 668A(1) requires companies that are paid consideration in respect of securities that are compulsorily acquired under Part 6A.1 or 6A.3 to maintain records of:
   1.        the consideration paid (including any benefit accruing from the consideration and any property substituted for the whole or any part of that consideration); and
   2.       the people who are entitled to that consideration; and
   3.        any transfers of the consideration to the people entitled to it.
3.          To help companies meet their legal obligations under subsection 668A(4), each year, ASIC publishes the Gazette which lists the names, full addresses, and entitlements to unpaid consideration as at 31 December of the previous year.
4.          Section 6 of the legislative instrument modifies the operation of subsection 668A(4) by inserting “, but without including the street name or number of any address in the records” at the end of the subsection. This establishes that the street name or number of any address is not to be included as part of the records that must be published in the Gazette.

Commencement of legislative instrument

1.          The instrument commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

Legislative instrument and primary legislation

1.          The subject matter and policy implemented by this instrument is more appropriate for a legislative instrument rather than primary legislation because the instrument is made under a broad power specifically delegated to ASIC under paragraph 669(1)(b) to exempt or modify the application of Chapter 6A of the Act. Due to the technical nature of the underlying subject matter and policy, ASIC is better suited to implement this change than Parliament. The instrument operates to fill in a more comprehensive regulatory framework that sits alongside the primary law.
2.          It will be a matter for the Government and for Parliament as to whether the Act may be amended in future to include the relief in the Instrument.

Duration of the instrument

1.          The instrument has a duration of 5 years with Section 7 of the legislative instrument providing that the instrument is repealed at the start of 1 April 2031.
2.          The duration of 5 years was considered appropriate given the minor nature of the legislative instrument and a shorter duration was not considered.

Legislative authority

1.          Paragraph 669(1)(b) of the Act allows ASIC to declare that Chapter 6A (Compulsory acquisitions and buy-outs) applies as if specific provisions were modified as specified in the declaration. 
2.          The instrument is not a disallowable legislative instrument.

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights 

20. The Explanatory Statement for a disallowable legislative instrument must contain a Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights under subsection 9(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. A Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights is in the Attachment.

Attachment

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

This Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights is prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.  

ASIC Corporations (Unclaimed Compulsory Acquisition Consideration) Instrument 2026/4

Overview

1.              Section 6 of the legislative instrument establishes that the street names and numbers of addresses are not included as part of unclaimed money records to be published in the Unclaimed Monies Gazette (“the Gazette”).

Assessment of human rights implications

1.              The change introduced by the instrument engages with the right to protection against arbitrary and unlawful interference with privacy and the right to freedom of expression under Articles 17 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
2.              Article 17 of the ICCPR prohibits arbitrary or unlawful interferences with an individual's privacy. The right to privacy includes respect for informational privacy, including the right to respect for private and confidential information, particularly the collection, storing, use and sharing of such information.
3.              Article 19 of the ICCPR specifies that everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.
4.              The removal of street names and numbers from the Gazette is intended to promote and protect the privacy of people with an entitlement to unclaimed money arising under section 668A of the Corporations Act 2001 that are published in the Gazette.
5.              The current level of information publicly available creates opportunities for third-party intermediaries to contact people listed in the Gazette offering to reunite them with their unclaimed money for a fee. These people may be disadvantaged because they can reclaim the money at no charge by directly engaging with the relevant company contact published in the Gazette.
6.              Stakeholder groups have also raised concerns that the public disclosure of information on unclaimed money could lead to identity theft. The legislative instrument therefore supports Article 17 of the ICCPR by protecting claimants from interference with their privacy.
7.              Limiting access to information about persons with unclaimed money under section 668A of the Corporations Act 2001 restricts the public’s right to seek information under Article 19(2) of the ICCPR. However, this is permitted under Article 19(3)(a) if the restrictions are necessary to protect the rights of others.
8.              As such, the legislative instrument is consistent with the ICCPR because the restriction of the public’s right to seek information is a consequence of strengthening the right of privacy of people who have unclaimed money arising under section 668A of the Corporations Act 2001.

Conclusion

1.          This instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 as it protects the privacy of people entitled to unclaimed money by preventing the public disclosure of their street name and number in the Gazette.
2.          To the extent that the instrument restricts the public’s right to seek information, this is justified because it is a reasonable, necessary and proportionate consequence of protecting the privacy of people who have an entitlement to unclaimed money published in the Gazette.