EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No. 272

 

 

Subject - Corporations Act 2010

 

Corporations Amendment Regulations 2010 (No. 8)

 

The Corporations Act 2001 (the Act) and the Corporations Regulations 2001 (the Principal Regulations) provide for the regulation of corporations and financial markets, products and services.

 

Subsection 1364(1) of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

 

The purpose of the Amending Regulations is to protect the name of Mary MacKillop from commercial exploitation by individuals or corporations who have no connection to her.

 

Paragraph 147(1)(c) of the Act provides that a name is unavailable to a body corporate if the name is a name which is declared by the Principal Regulations to be unacceptable for registration, unless Ministerial consent is granted under subsection 147(2).

 

Subregulation 2B.6.01(2) of the Principal Regulations provides that a name is unacceptable for registration if it is unacceptable under the rules set out in Part 2 of Schedule 6 to the Principal Regulations.

 

Paragraph 6203(e) of Schedule 6 to the Principal Regulations provides that a name is unacceptable for registration if, in the context in which it is proposed to be used, it suggests a connection with one of the listed groups of people or organisations and that connection does not exist.

 

The Amending Regulations add the name “Mary MacKillop” to the list of people or organisations under paragraph 6203(e) of Schedule 6.

 

Under the Corporations Agreement 2002, the Commonwealth must consult with and obtain the approval of the Ministerial Council for Corporations before making amendments to certain provisions of the Corporations Regulations. The Council was consulted and has approved the Amending Regulations and waived the period of public consultation.

 

The Act does not specify any other conditions that need to be satisfied before the power to make the Amending Regulations may be exercised.

 

The Amending Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. The Amending Regulations commence on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.