EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by authority of the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services
Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001
Competition and Consumer Act 2010
Corporations Act 2001
Treasury Laws Amendment (Professional Standards Schemes No. 2) Regulations 2025
Section 251 of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (the ASIC Act), section 172 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (the CCA) and section 1364 of the Corporations Act 2001 (the Corporations Act) each provide that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the Acts to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Acts.
The intergovernmental Professional Standards Agreement 2011 (intergovernmental agreement) provides for a national framework of professional standards legislation that provides professionals and members of occupational associations with capped civil liability. As part of this national framework, all states and territories have adopted legislation to establish a Professional Standards Council that can approve professional standards schemes in their respective jurisdictions. Professional groups that have obtained approval for schemes include, but are not limited to, professional groups in the accounting, legal, and property industry. Members of professional groups that are part of these schemes are entitled to capped civil liability in return for raising industry service standards and having professional indemnity insurance up to the level of the prescribed liability cap.
As part of the national framework of professional standards legislation, the Commonwealth provides members of professional groups that are part of an approved professional standards scheme with capped civil liability in relation to misleading and deceptive conduct under the ASIC Act, the CCA and the Corporations Act to ensure that actions cannot be brought under these Acts to circumvent the cap on civil liability. This provides consistency across Commonwealth and State and Territory laws.
All approved professional standards schemes are prescribed under the CCA. In addition, those schemes relating to financial services are also prescribed under the ASIC Act and the Corporations Act.
Subsections 12GNA(2) of the ASIC Act, 137(2) of the CCA and 1044B(2) of the Corporations Act provide for capped civil liability for misleading and deceptive conduct for professional standards schemes that are prescribed in relevant regulations. Accordingly, regulation 3A of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Regulations 2001, regulation 8A of the Competition and Consumer Regulations 2010 and regulation 7.10.02 of the Corporations Regulations 2001 prescribe a list of professional standards schemes that have capped civil liability for misleading and deceptive conduct under their respective principal Acts.
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Professional Standards Schemes No.2) Regulations 2025 (the Regulations) give effect to the decisions of the Professional Standards Councils to remake the CPA Australia Professional Standards Scheme (remade scheme) as published in the relevant New South Wales Government Gazette. There are no significant differences between the remade scheme and the earlier iteration that was previously prescribed.
The ASIC Act, the CCA and the Corporations Act do not specify any conditions that need to be satisfied before the power to make the Regulations may be exercised.
Details of the currently approved schemes, as well as the expired schemes, are publicly available on the Professional Standards Councils website: www.psc.gov.au.
The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003.
The Regulations are subject to disallowance.
The Regulations commenced on the day after this instrument was registered.
The Regulations are exempt from sunsetting as they seek to amend regulations that are already exempt themselves. These exempt regulations are the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Regulations 2001, the Competition and Consumer Regulations 2010 and the Corporations Regulations 2001 which are exempt from sunsetting under item 9B, item 16 and item 18, respectively, of section 12 of Legislation (Exemptions and Other Matters) Regulation 2015. As an amending instrument, the Regulations are also subject to automatic repeal pursuant to section 48A of the Legislation Act 2003. Lastly, as the Regulations give effect to the intergovernmental agreement between the Commonwealth and States and Territories, an exemption from sunsetting ensures that the Regulations would not be unilaterally altered by the Commonwealth contrary to the terms of the intergovernmental agreement.
Details of the Regulations are set out in Attachment A.
A Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights is at Attachment B.
Overview of consultation process for Treasury Laws Amendment (Professional Standards Schemes No. 2) Regulations 2025
Public consultation was not undertaken for the Regulations as the amendments in the Regulations are mechanical in nature and consultation on the remade scheme, had already been undertaken at the state level pursuant to section 8 of the Professional Standards Act 1994 (NSW).
Specifically, this involved consultation conducted by the Professional Standards Councils which sought the opinion of independent actuarial consultants and called for public comment on professional standards schemes via public notification in major newspapers. More specifically:
• the scheme and explanatory document on the Professional Standards Councils’ website;
• the scheme and explanatory document on the relevant association’s website
No targeted consultation was undertaken as there are no significant differences between the remade scheme and the former scheme. Only limited feedback was received in relation to the remade scheme, mostly in the form of responses to the accompanying survey. However, most feedback received was in support of the schemes, with no significant concerns raised.
ATTACHMENT A
Details of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Professional Standards Schemes No. 2) Regulations 2025
Section 1 – Name
This section provides that the name of the regulations is the Treasury Laws Amendment (Professional Standards Schemes No. 2) Regulations 2025 (the Regulations).
Section 2 – Commencement
Schedule 1 to the Regulations commenced on the day after the instrument is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.
Section 3 – Authority
This section provides that the Regulations are made under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (the ASIC Act), the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (the CCA), and the Corporations Act 2001 (the Corporations Act).
Section 4 – Schedule
This section provides that each instrument that is specified in the Schedule to this instrument are amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule, and any other item in the Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.
Schedule 1 – Amendments
Items 1, 2 and 3 – Prescription of the CPA Australia Professional Standards Scheme
These items amend Regulation 3A (table item 1) of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Regulations 2001 (ASIC Regulations), regulation 8A (table item 5) of the Competition and Consumer Regulations 2010 (CC Regulations), and regulation 7.10.02 (table item 1) of the Corporation Regulations 2001 (Corporation Regulations) to provide for the prescription of the CPA Australia Professional Standards Scheme as a professional standards scheme that has capped civil liability for misleading or deceptive conduct under the CCA, the ASIC Act and the Corporations Act. The scheme was notified on 6 June 2025 in the New South Wales Government Gazette No.277.
ATTACHMENT B
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Treasury Laws Amendment (Professional Standards Schemes No. 2) Regulations 2025
This Legislative 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.
Overview of the Legislative Instrument
The Regulations prescribe a new CPA Australia Professional Standards Scheme to ensure that members of the scheme continue have capped civil liability for misleading and deceptive conduct under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (the ASIC Act), the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (the CCA) and the Corporations Act 2001 (the Corporations Act).
The intergovernmental Professional Standards Agreement 2011 provides for a national framework of professional standards legislation that provides professionals and members of occupational associations with capped civil liability. As part of this national framework, all states and territories have adopted legislation to establish a Professional Standards Council that can approve professional standards schemes in their respective jurisdictions. Members of professional groups that are part of these schemes are entitled to capped civil liability in return for raising industry service standards and having professional indemnity insurance up to the level of the prescribed liability cap.
As part of the national framework of professional standards legislation, the Commonwealth provides members of professional groups that are part of an approved professional standards scheme with capped civil liability in relation to misleading and deceptive conduct under the ASIC Act, the CCA and the Corporations Act to ensure that actions cannot be brought under these Acts to circumvent the cap on civil liability. This provides consistency across Commonwealth and state and territory laws.