Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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CORPORATIONS (FEES) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1996 NO. 251

Statutory Rules 1996 No. 251

Issued by the Authority of the Treasurer

Corporations Act 1989

Corporations (Fees) Regulations (Amendment)

Section 22 of the Corporations Act 1989 (the Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations not inconsistent with the Act or the Corporations Law of the Capital Territory (the Law) prescribing matters required or permitted by the Law to be prescribed by regulations or necessary or convenient to be prescribed by such regulations for carrying out or giving effect to the Law.

Section 25 of the Act provides that the regulations may prescribe fees (including fees that are taxes) for chargeable matters. Chargeable matters are defined in section 9 of the Law as:

(a)       the lodgment, registration or submission for examination of documents under the Law;

(b)       the inspection or search of registers kept by, or documents in the custody of, the Australian Securities Commission (the Commission), the production by the Commission under a subpoena of such registers or documents, and the issuing of documents or copies of documents by the Commission; and

(c)       the making of inquiries of, or applications to, the Minister or the Commission in relation to a matter arising under the Law and the granting of licences, consents or approvals, or the doing of any other act under the Law, by the Minister or the Commission.

Subsection 26(2) of the Act provides that where a fee is prescribed as a stated amount, that amount is not to exceed $5,000 while subsection 26(3) of the Act provides that two or more fees may be prescribed for the same chargeable matter.

Subsection 1352(1) of the Law adds the further provision that the upper limit on the aggregate amount of fees payable for a chargeable matter is $25,000.

The principal purpose of the Regulations is to amend the Corporations (Fees) Regulations (the Fees Regulations) by increasing fees in line with movements in the Consumer Price Index over the last two years and to make a supplementary increase in fees. This is a continuation of the policy instituted by the previous Government that the difference between the cost of the national corporations scheme, including compensation payments to the States, and the revenue recouped, should be reduced over time.

Details of the accompanying Regulations are as follows:

Regulation 1: Commencement

This regulation provides that the Regulations commence on 1 December 1996.

Regulation 2: Amendment

This regulation provides that the regulations amend the Corporations (Fees) Regulations.

Regulation 3: Schedule (Fees)

Subregulation 3.1 has the effect of increasing the fees in the Schedule by 12.86 percent on the basis of a 7.7 percent increase in line with the movement in the Consumer Price Index between the December quarters of 1993 and 1995, and a further 5.16 percent increase to recoup the costs of administering the national corporate regulation scheme.

The 12.86 percent increase was applied to the 1994 fees figures and rounded as follows:

*       amounts below $50 were rounded to the nearest dollar;

*       amounts from $50 to $200 were rounded to the nearest $5; and

*       amounts above $200 were rounded to the nearest $10.

The changes in quantum of fees are set out in the following table:

Current Fee	Proposed Fee
2	2
7	8
14	15
27	28
32	34
50	55
105	115
185	195
210	230
270	280
430	450
530	560
640	680
800	840
1070	1130
1600	1690