March 2006
| Inhouse Home Page | Inhouse Library | Inhouse Archives | Search This Site |
In this edition:
Note: All hyperlinks below were correct at the time of publication. Generally, it is too onerous a task for us to check and update these and so if a hyperlink is no longer valid, please accept our apologies.
The Trade Practices Amendment (Personal Injuries and Death) Act 2006 has come into force. It amends sections 82 and 87 of the Trade Practices Act to prevent individual actions and representative actions by the ACCC for damages for personal injuries and death where there has been a contravention of Division 1 of Part V of the principal Act. Death or personal injury resulting from smoking or other use of tobacco products are exempt from the new provisions. The Act and its explanatory memorandum are available at:
ACCC has launched a consumer guide to cartel conduct. A copy of the guide is available at:
APRA has released new and harmonised “fit and proper” prudential standards for authorised deposit taking institutions and life and general insurance companies. The new standards and their accompanying prudential practice guides are available on APRA's web site at:
ADIs: Prudential Standards and Prudential Practice Guides
General Insurance: Prudential Standards and Prudential Practice Guides
Life Insurance: Prudential Standards and Prudential Practice Guides
APRA has issued a discussion paper, draft prudential standards and a prudential practice guide on managing risks from outsourcing. The draft standards apply a harmonised approach to authorised deposit taking institutions, general insurers and life insurers. The materials can be viewed at:
http://www.apra.gov.au/Policy/Draft-Prudential-Standards-Outsourcing.cfm
APRA has released a discussion paper and accompanying draft prudential standard and prudential practice guide on interest rate risk in the banking book (non-traded interest rate risk). The materials can be viewed at:
http://www.apra.gov.au/ADI/Basel-II-implementation-in-Australia.cfm
ASIC has issued a guide for product issuers to help them comply with the enhanced fee disclosure regulations made in March 2005. The guide includes a series of questions and answers and draws together some commonly asked questions about compliance with the enhanced fee disclosure regulations. To view the guide, go to:
ASIC has filed civil penalty proceedings against Citigroup for conflicts and insider trading breaches in relation to proprietary trading undertaken by it in Patrick Corporation securities. Citigroup was advising Toll in its bid for Patrick Corporation at the time. See Media Release 06-096:
http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/ASIC_PUB.NSF/byid/DBDDC0E120AE85C2CA257142000374B9?opendocument
ASX and SFE have announced merger plans. For the salient features of the merger, see:
http://www.asx.com.au/about/pdf/media_release_270306.pdf
http://www.sfe.com.au/content/news/mediareleases/2006/mr_20060327_01.pdf
http://www.asx.com.au/about/pdf/merger_proposal_key_terms_270306.pdf
http://www.asx.com.au/about/pdf/asx_sfe_merger_presentation_slides.pdf
http://www.asx.com.au/about/pdf/fact_sheet.pdf
ASX has re-released Guidance Note 30 with the attached Risk Management Framework that was missing from its February release. See Participant Circular 088/06 and attachment:
For an outline of recent developments in banking and finance, see Blake Dawson Waldron, Banking and Finance Update - March 2006:
http://www.bdw.com.au/publications/bankingupdate/bankingupdate032006.pdf
For a general discussion of recent developments in employee relations law, see Allens Arthur Robinson, Focus: Workplace Relations - March 2006:
http://www.aar.com.au/pubs/wr/fowrmar06.htm
Gadens, Workplace Relations Update - March 2006 has a useful checklist for employers setting out some key issues to consider in preparing their business for the Government's changes to workplace relations. See:
http://www.gadens.com.au/Documents/WorkplaceRelationsUpdateMarch2006-960-1.htm
For a summary of the New South Wales Government's legislative response to the Federal Government's Work Choices Act 2005 (comprised in the Industrial Relations Amendment Act 2006 and the Public Sector Employment Legislation Amendment Act 2006) - see Minter Ellison, Work Choices: New South Wales to Pass Special Legislation - 10 March 2006:
http://www.minterellison.com/public/resources/file/eb755d0fc6a35f4/HRIRUpdate10March06.pdf
The Financial Planning Association has adopted Principles for Managing Conflicts of Interest. The principles can be downloaded at:
http://www.fpa.asn.au/files/PrinciplesConflictsInterest.pdf
WA is set to abolish stamp duty on mortgages. See Deacons, Legal Update: Stamp Duty on Mortgages to be Abolished - 27 March 2006:
http://www.deacons.com.au/NewsUpdates/Newsroom/LegalUpdates.cfm?objid=5467
For those interested in reading the decision of the High Court in The Trustees of the Property of John Daniel Cummins, A Bankrupt v Cummins [2006] HCA 6 - the bankruptcy case involving the Queen's Counsel who failed to lodge tax returns for 45 years - it can be viewed at:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/high_ct/2006/6.html
In AMP Services Ltd v Manning [2006] FCA 256, the Federal Court found that an employee had breached her duty of good faith to her employer by soliciting clients after she had resigned and before her notice period had expired. However, in an interesting twist, it found that the clients would have transferred their business to the employee's new employer in any event and that the proper measure of damages was not the total value of the loss of their business to the former employer but rather the loss in the value of keeping those clients during the employee's notice period when the improper solicitation occurred. The decisions can be viewed at:
http://cclsr.law.unimelb.edu.au/judgments/states/federal/2006/march/2006fca256.htm
Copyright © 2006 Inhouse Legal Solutions Pty Limited ("ILS") ABN 16 003 663 456.
This newsletter is a summary only of the subject matter covered and is not intended to be, nor should it be relied upon as, a substitute for legal or other professional advice. It is made available without the assumption of a duty of care by ILS, or the officers, employees or agents of ILS who were involved in its preparation and without any representation or warranty as to accuracy or completeness. ILS is not responsible for, and gives no representations or warranties regarding, the source, quality, accuracy or completeness of the materials on any web site to which a hyperlink is provided above.