Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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SUPERANNUATION INDUSTRY (SUPERVISION) AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2002 (NO. 4) 2002 NO. 171

Statutory Rules 2002 No. 171

Issued by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer

Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993

Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Amendment Regulations 2002 (No. 4)

Subsection 353(1) of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed by regulations or necessary or convenient to be prescribed by such regulations for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

The purpose of the Regulations is to reinstate disclosure obligations on superannuation entities that were inadvertently removed due to the interaction of section 1017C of the Corporations Act 2001 (as amended by the Financial Services Reform Act 2001) and consequential amendments to Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (SIS Regulations), which repealed the then Subdivision 2.6. The Regulations also rectify a referencing error.

Previously SIS Regulation 2.41 (contained in Subdivision 2.6) had required trustees of superannuation funds and pooled superannuation trusts to provide copies of audited accounts and fund information reports to any person who made a written request.

While section 1017C of the Corporations Act largely replicates these requirements it only provides an obligation for the trustee to provide information to 'concerned persons' - being members and employer sponsors.

The Regulations reinstate the obligation to disclose such information to persons other than concerned persons. The provisions relating to charges for information, method of providing documents and timing for the provision of requested documents are consistent with the previous SIS Regulation requirements.

The amendment to subregulation 2.04(1) is a technical amendment related to the operation of these disclosure requirements.

The regulations also address a referencing error that was consequential to the commencement of the Financial Services Reform Act 2001 (FSRA). The FSRA included amendments to the Corporations Act 2001 to provide for the ongoing periodic disclosure requirements in relation to superannuation products, and other financial products, however references to 'member information' and 'member reporting period' were not amended accordingly.

The Regulations commence on gazettal.