After two years three rounds of public consultation and one aborted attempt Federal Parliament looks likely to pass legislation amending the rules governing when the Australian Taxation Office is required to refund excess GST to a taxpayer ...

A recent Federal Court decision highlights the importance of managing the provision of information and documentation to third parties with caution in order to preserve legal professional privilege Partner Richard Harris and Senior Associate Elnaz Nikibin report on the case ...

The release of the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement has renewed the debate about the ability of foreign investors to sue governments under investor-State dispute settlement mechanisms which are commonly part of international trade agreements or investment treaties between States ...

With the release of an ASFA Best Practice Paper on insourcing investment management we look at some of the challenges and opportunities for in-house legal teams that come with the seemingly inexorable move in the superannuation industry towards insourcing investment management functions ...

The House of Representatives yesterday passed the Governments Bill to broaden the misuse of market power prohibition and the Bill will be introduced to the Senate shortly The Bill as passed removes the mandatory factors the courts would have had to consider in determining whether conduct was ...

Australian boards and senior executives are expected to maintain oversight of risk and compliance issues such as bribery sanctions human rights and anti-money laundering In-house counsel perform a central role in supporting this oversight and maintaining compliance In the last of a five-part series ...

The financial services sector has been under scrutiny for some time with many different voices clamouring for further regulation or inquiries in a sector that is already highly regulated The recent Federal Budget included a number of measures focused on the state of competition in the financial ...

As of 1 September 2017 merchants will be prohibited from charging excessive payment surcharges for certain payment methods Under the new rules businesses can only pass on to customers what it costs them to process a payment The Allens Competition team have put together a brief overview of the ...

ASIC has released draft updates to four existing Regulatory Guides and drafts of two new Regulatory Guides for managed investment schemes corporate collective investment vehicles and passport funds and announced a consultation period which will run until 8 December Partners Marc Kemp and Penny ...

In Touch looks at what's been happening in Competition this month and what it means for your business ...