The Development: On August 22, 2024, the Australian Senate passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Market Infrastructure and Other Measures) Bill 2024 ("Bill")....more
The Background: The Australian Treasury has released its second quarterly report of the 2023–24 financial year covering the regulation of foreign investment in Australia during the quarter ended 31 December 2023....more
The Situation: The Australian government has restated its commitment to foreign investment and announced procedural reforms to Australia's foreign investment framework. The government aims to attract the significant foreign...more
The Background: The Australian Federal Treasurer recently announced sweeping reforms to Australia's merger review regime. These reforms will overhaul the current merger review regime in Australia to introduce mandatory filing...more
On 27 March 2024, Australia's climate disclosure regime moved a significant step closer to implementation, with the federal government's introduction of proposed legislation into Parliament. Any organisations with a presence...more
4/17/2024
/ ASIC ,
Audits ,
Australia ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Reporting ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sustainability
Australia continues to be a highly active jurisdiction for climate-related lawsuits. Since our last update in August 2023, we have seen a steady stream of suits commenced against corporations and government bodies in relation...more
3/18/2024
/ ASIC ,
Australia ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Claims ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Environmental Violations ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Greenwashing ,
Net Zero ,
Popular ,
Renewable Energy
The Australian Treasury has released its first quarterly report ("Report") for the 2023-24 financial year covering the regulation of foreign investment in Australia....more
The Situation: The Australian government has released its widely anticipated exposure draft legislation for the introduction of Australia's national mandatory climate-related financial disclosures regime....more
Australia continues to be a highly active jurisdiction for climate-related lawsuits. The last few years have seen multiple suits commenced against corporations and governments in relation to climate issues, with more filings...more
In Short -
The Situation: In 2018, the Australian federal government obligated Australian corporates to engage with modern slavery risks in their supply chain by enacting the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) ("the Act")....more
In Short -
The Situation: From July 1, 2023, foreign investors in Australia will be subject to new registration requirements under Australia's foreign investment regime....more
Australia has significantly increased penalties for competition and consumer law breaches and also expanded the scope of the law that prohibits unfair contract terms ("UCT")....more
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") also cautions government agencies to be alert to potential bid rigging in the procurement process for public tenders. ...more
The Background -
Despite plentiful natural resources and a healthy domestic demand for energy, Australia's offshore renewable energy sector has lagged behind comparable jurisdictions. While the offshore wind sector is...more
NSW Court of Criminal Appeal rules that any admissions made in civil proceedings can be used in future criminal proceedings.
In Turnbull v Office of Environment and Heritage [2021] NSWCCA 190, the NSW Court of Criminal...more
Recent Merger Review and Litigation in Australia -
Australia's antitrust merger laws have remained largely unchanged since 1993. The law prohibits the acquisition of assets or shares with the effect or likely effect of...more
The New South Wales Government recently announced that the land available for gas exploration will be significantly reduced.
The Future of Gas Statement published by the New South Wales ("NSW") Government outlines plans...more
Australia's competition authority settles allegations that port operator misused its market power.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") secured a declaration in its first action under Section 46 of the...more
Fortnite game maker Epic Games brings dispute with Apple to Australia, alleging "misuse of market power."
Epic Games, developer of the popular game Fortnite, filed proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia alleging...more
Energy retailers have a fresh impetus to abide by reporting obligations imposed by the Australian Energy Regulator ("AER") after the judgment in Australian Energy Regulator v AGL Sales Pty Limited [2020] FCA 1623. The court...more
Both houses of the Australian Parliament have passed a repeal of subsection 51(3) of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) ("CCA"). Following the repeal, owners of intellectual property rights in Australia must comply...more
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") has opposed the proposed $15 billion merger of telecom providers TPG Telecom Limited ("TPG") and Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Ltd ("Vodafone"). The ACCC's...more
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") has signed a new memorandum of cooperation ("MOC") with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"). The interagency agreement was signed in Washington...more
The Situation: The Notifiable Data Breach scheme, introduced by amendments to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), requires an assessment when an entity suspects that there may have been loss of, unauthorised access to, or...more
Although Australia's Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) has contained criminal cartel prohibitions since 2009, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has now made criminal cartel enforcement one of its top...more
8/3/2018
/ Australia ,
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ,
Cartels ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
Criminal Antitrust Litigation ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreign Exchanges ,
Immunity ,
Popular ,
Price-Fixing