EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer
Subject – Corporations Amendment (No.1) Act 2010
Proclamation
Subsection 2(1) of the Corporations Amendment (No.1) Act 2010 (the Act) provides that Schedule 1 commences on a day to be fixed by Proclamation. However, if Schedule 1 does not commence within six months of the date the Act receives the Royal Assent, then the Schedule commences on the first day after the end of that six-month period. The Act received Royal Assent on 24 November 2010.
The purpose of the Proclamation is to fix 13 December 2010 as the day on which Schedule 1 commences. Schedule 1 contains the operative provisions of the Act.
The Act amends the Corporations Act 2001 to require a person seeking a copy of the register of a company or registered scheme to make an application stating the purpose for which they are seeking the copy of the register. The Act also removes outdated references to technology in the provisions that require a company to provide a copy of a member register and provide for registers to be inspected on a computer if they are maintained electronically.
The Act also increases the maximum criminal penalties for market offences to 4,500 penalty units or three times the benefit attributable from the breach and/or imprisonment for 10 years for an individual and 45,000 penalty units, three times the benefit attributable to the breach or 10 per cent of the corporation’s annual turnover during the relevant period, for a body corporate.
The Act also amends the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 to include market misconduct offences, including insider trading in the definition of serious offence for which telecommunications interception warrants can be obtained.
The Act also amends the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 search warrant power to provide that a warrant may be sought and executed without the Australian Securities and Investments Commission first issuing a notice to produce the material sought.
The Proclamation would be a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.