Draft FOFA amendments released for industry scrutiny
The Federal Government has released the draft amendments to the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms, stating it would implement any changes via regulation before making binding legislative changes to the relevant part of the Corporations Act.
In announcing the release of the draft amendments, the Assistant Treasurer, Senator Arthur Sinodinos, has allowed only 21 days for comments to be submitted on the draft legislation and regulations before the closing date of 19 February.
The draft legislation will allow the Federal Government to make changes to the way FOFA operates via regulation and will also allow for the final implementation of those regulations into the Corporations Act at a later date.
In a statement released by Senator Sinodinos, the Federal Government said it would act via regulation first to "provide certainty for industry and to ensure that the measures have effect as soon as possible".
The statement also said that regulations that would be made redundant by the newer legislative amendments would be repealed once those amendments had been passed, while "amendments best addressed via regulations will remain in place".
According to the statement released by Sinodinos, the Government plans to have new regulations in place by the end of March. A new bill containing the amendments will be introduced into Parliament during the 2014 autumn sitting period, with passage scheduled for the winter sitting period.
The draft regulations and legisation are available via The Treasury website
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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