Licensing

Preliminary Analysis of Legislative Framework for Licensing Regimes

The ALRC completed a preliminary analysis of the legislative framework governing the licensing regimes in respect of financial services, credit and superannuation to identify and understand points of potential complexity, duplication, and over-prescription. Available outputs from this analysis are outlined below. The ALRC’s analysis was completed in mid-2020 and reflects the law at that time.

A. Compositional logic maps of licensing obligations

Download A1. MAP – Obligation to hold financial services licence

Download A2. MAP – Obligation to hold credit licence

Download A3. MAP – Obligation to hold RSE licence

These three maps outline the constituent components of the obligations to hold, respectively:

1. an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) pursuant to s 911A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth);
2. an Australian Credit Licence (ACL) pursuant to s 29 of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth); and
3. a Registrable Superannuation Entity (RSE) licence pursuant to s 29J of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth).

The maps make reference to both a register of exemptions, and to a register of obligations for each licence, which are outlined below.

B. Register of obligations

1. Register of AFSL obligations

Download B1. AFS licensee obligations

This spreadsheet contains information about the obligations applicable to those persons holding an AFSL.

The information contained in the spreadsheet is summary information aimed at providing an indication of the contours of the legislative regime applicable to licensees, rather than a detailed outline of the precise form, scope and requirements of the relevant obligations.

The headings used in the spreadsheet and associated categorisation of information throughout the spreadsheet aim to capture information about the obligations that will aid understanding of the following aspects of the regime:

• structure (in particular, where obligations are located and the form in which they are expressed);
• design of obligations (in particular, approaches to prescribing and proscribing conduct by reference to the type of obligation legislated and the type of conduct regulated);
• scope of obligations (by identifying to whom and when the obligation applies);
• extent to which interaction with delegated legislation is required to understand the scope of obligations;
• consequences of non-compliance with the obligations; and
• similarity with obligations under the other licensing provisions.

2. Register of ACL obligations

Download B2. Credit licensee obligations

This spreadsheet is the equivalent of document B1 for the ACL licensing regime.

3. Register of RSE licence obligations

Download B3. RSE licensee obligations

This spreadsheet is the equivalent of document B1 for the RSE licensing regime.

C. Register of exemptions

Download C. Register of Exemptions

This spreadsheet contains all exemptions identified by the ALRC to the requirement to hold a licence under s 911A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), s 29 of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth), and s 29J of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth).                             

The information contained in the spreadsheet is summary information aimed at providing an indication of the contours of the legislative regime applicable to licensees, rather than a detailed outline of the precise form, scope, and requirements of the regime.

D. Register of ASIC Legislative Instruments

Download D. Register of ASIC Legislative Instruments (as at 10 July 2020)

This spreadsheet contains all ASIC legislative instruments listed as ‘currently in operation’ on the ASIC website as at 10 July 2020 and identifies the source of authority under which the legislative instrument was made. NB: The scope of this register is not limited to legislative instruments related to the disclosure regimes or the licensing regimes.