International Law

COAG regulatory reform update

By David Jacobson

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has released the following revised Implementation Plans for the National Partnership Agreement to Deliver a Seamless National Economy in response to recommendations from the COAG Reform Council:

• Implementation Plan for Deregulation Priorities;
• Implementation Plan for Competition Reforms;
• Implementation Plan for Regulatory Reform.

The updated plans deal with a range of industries and sectors.

In respect of consumer credit it calls for the Commonwealth to develop and enact legislation for a national framework for regulation of consumer credit in line with part one of phase two of the implementation plan relating to the regulation of consumer credit (including any provisions that may be determined to be necessary for, regulation of reverse mortgages, regulation of credit for personal use and peer to peer lending, licensing requirements for debt collectors, regulation of credit card lending, credit cards and store credit, extension of unjust conduct provisions to credit service providers, enhancements to the National Credit Code and to enhance disclosure requirements for consumer leases and linked credit providers) by June 2011.

It calls the Commonwealth to develop and enact legislation for a national framework for regulation of consumer credit in line with part two of phase two of the implementation plan, relating to the regulation of consumer credit (including any provisions that may be determined to be necessary to regulate predatory, fringe and high cost lending, post-entry conduct by credit providers, credit advertising directed at vulnerable consumers, mandatory comparison rates, small business lending and issues specific to Islamic Finance) by June 2012.

Full post as published by Australian Regulatory Compliance Review on September 19, 2010 (boomark / email).