The Australian Law Reform Commission released for consultation today a set of proposals aimed at overhauling the federal corporate criminal responsibility regime. This comes in the wake of criticisms that the current system is ineffective in preventing, deterring and prosecuting serious corporate crime. Whilst the reforms offer a clearer, consistent and more rational framework for addressing corporate misconduct in Australia, some elements (such as the adoption of a general 'associate' model for criminal attribution) will no doubt raise concern given their capacity to significantly extend corporate liability. We examine some of the key proposals and their likely impact. Partner Christopher Kerrigan and Senior Overseas Practitioner Cindy McNair report. ...

The Equator Principles Association unveiled the finalised fourth version of the Equator Principles (EP4) on 18 November 2019. Set for an effective date of 1 July 2020, EP4 heightens requirements for designated OECD countries and tightens due diligence assessments with a greater focus on human rights, climate change and biodiversity. While there are many improvements and refinements from the draft we reviewed in June, the only potentially material change is a compromise on the 'free prior and informed consent' requirement for affected Indigenous communities. ...

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority AFCA the new one-stop-shop for resolving financial complaints has had a very busy first six months of operation ...

A recent decision of the High Court confirms the scope of arbitration clauses that refer disputes under a deed or agreement can be broad enough to capture disputes about the validity of the agreement ...

APRA and ASIC issued a joint letter to all RSE licensees entitled 'Oversight of fees charged to members' superannuation accounts' in early April, in response to the 'fee for no advice' issue that attracted so much attention in the Royal Commission ...

Lawyers working in the field of financial regulation have become inured to said regulation producing weird, unintended outcomes. Even so, there are two outcomes produced by recently enacted laws that are unequivocally crazy. ...

The Australian impact investing market has grown considerably in recent years and growth is largely attributed to a surge of impact investment with focus on environmental rather than social outcomes. ...

At ICSID, Australian's investor wins big. ...

After much anticipation, ASIC has provided an update on its proposed changes to the licensing relief currently available to foreign financial service providers operating in Australia. ...

Associates Tiernan Christensen and Nick Li report on some noteworthy developments relevant to the food industry in Australia. ...