The Australian Treasury, which administers Australia's foreign investment framework, has released its first quarterly report for the 2024-25 financial year. Here are some key statistics and trends from the report.
Treasury...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 Australian Federal Parliament recently introduced new requirements for public companies to disclose information about their subsidiaries in their annual report by legislating the Treasury Laws Amendment (Making...more
The Situation: The Australian Federal Parliament has passed the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Combatting Foreign Bribery) Act 2024 ("Act"), some six years after a bill to create a 'failure to prevent' foreign bribery offence...more
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
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
The Situation: The Australian Government has doubled Foreign Investment Review Board ("FIRB") application fees payable by investors who are required to seek approval under the Foreign Investments and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth)...more
Australia's Existing Autonomous Sanctions Regime -
Australia's existing autonomous sanctions regime is set out in the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 (Cth) ("Act")....more
On 31 August 2020, the Australian Law Reform Commission's Final Report on Corporate Criminal Responsibility was tabled in Parliament. The Final Report makes significant recommendations for reform of corporate criminal...more
10/12/2020
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Australia ,
Board of Directors ,
Bribery ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Code ,
Criminal Liability ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
The Corporations Act ,
White Collar Crimes
The Situation: In 2016, a helicopter pilot died after he fell into a hidden ice crevasse in Antarctica. At the Coronial inquest, the coroner issued a subpoena requiring the chief pilot of the helicopter company to give...more
The Situation: The Australian Government has temporarily reduced the monetary thresholds under the Foreign Investments and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth) ("the Act")?which had long been in place to exempt some foreign investment...more
The Situation: The Australian Law Reform Commission ("ALRC") has released its much anticipated Discussion Paper on Australia's corporate criminal responsibility regime, which provides the ALRC's preliminary views in relation...more
The Situation: At the direction of the Attorney General of Australia, the Australian Law Reform Commission ("ALRC") is undertaking a comprehensive review of Australia's Commonwealth corporate criminal liability regime. The...more
11/21/2019
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Australia ,
Board of Directors ,
Bribery ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Code ,
Criminal Liability ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
The Corporations Act ,
White Collar Crimes
The Situation: A recent decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has significant implications for prosecuting authorities, including corporate regulators. The decision affects the circumstances in which an...more
11/11/2019
/ Adjournment ,
Australia ,
Compulsory Claims ,
Criminal Contempt ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cross Examination ,
Discovery ,
Evidence ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Judicial Review ,
Self-Incrimination
The Situation It was recently reported that an Australian proxy adviser had queried whether the directors of a substantial Australian Securities Exchange-listed ("ASX") target, DuluxGroup, should have negotiated a Go Shop...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
On 6 December 2017, Australia's Federal Government tabled the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Combatting Corporate Crime) Bill 2017 ("Bill"), which contains various amendments to Australia's foreign bribery regime, including...more
12/22/2017
/ Amended Legislation ,
Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Corruption ,
Australia ,
Bribery ,
Due Diligence ,
Foreign Investment ,
Foreign Relations ,
Joint Venture ,
OECD ,
Risk Assessment ,
Self-Reporting ,
UK Bribery Act