Corporations Point-in-Time Service Updates

The Corporations Point-in-Time Service has been updated to include the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Mandatory Credit Reporting and Other Measures) Act 2021 (Cth) (Act 5 of 2021), the Native Title Legislation Amendment Act 2021 (Cth) (Act 6 of 2021), and the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response) (2021 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2021 (Cth).

Act 5 of 2021

This Act amends the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth) and the National Consumer Credit Protection (Transitional and Consequential) Provisions Act 2009 (Cth) to mandate a comprehensive credit reporting regime (the mandatory regime). Under the regime eligible licensees, who on 1 April 2020 are large ADIs, must provide credit information on consumer credit accounts to credit reporting bodies. The Act also makes other minor changes to improve the overall administration of credit reporting.

Schedule 2 to the Act amends the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) to permit reporting of financial hardship information within the credit reporting framework.

Act 6 of 2021

This Act amends the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) and the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth) to improve native title claims resolution, agreement-making, Indigenous decision-making and dispute resolution processes, including to:

• give greater flexibility to native title claim groups to set their internal processes;
• streamline and improve native title claims resolution and agreement-making;
• allow historical extinguishment over areas of national and state park to be disregarded where the parties agree;
• increase the transparency and accountability of registered native title bodies corporate; and
• create new pathways to address native title-related disputes arising following a native title determination.

The Act will also confirm the validity of agreements made under Part 2, Division 3, Subdivision P of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (section 31 agreements) following the decision in McGlade v Native Title Registrar & Ors [2017] FCAFC 10.

Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response) (2021 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2021

These Regulations amend the Corporations Regulations 2001 (Cth) to make handling an insurance claim a ‘financial service’ under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). These Regulations also amend the Insurance Contracts Regulations 2017 (Cth) to remove the concept of eligible contracts of insurance.

These amendments have been updated in the Point-in-Time Corporations Service current to 28 February 2021. (NB: subscription required).

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