Independent Review – Department of the Treasury & Attorney-General’s Department
On 27 October 2021, the Government introduced the Corporations Amendment (Improving Outcomes for Litigation Funding Participants) Bill 2021.
The Bill amends Chapter 5C of the Corporations Act to implement the Australian Government response to recommendations 7, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18 and 20 of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services (PJCCFS) Report. The amendments establish a new kind of managed investment scheme, a class action litigation funding scheme, and introduce additional requirements for the constitutions of managed investment schemes that are class action litigation funding schemes.
The class action regime is an important feature of our legal system that ensures groups of people have equitable access to pursue redress. The Government requested the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) and then the PJCCFS to undertake inquiries into the fairness and efficacy of Australia’s class actions and third party litigation funding regimes. Both reports highlight several areas of reform to ensure that class members receive fair and equitable outcomes from class actions, including those supported by a litigation funder.
Consistent with the Government’s Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) requirements, the PJCCFS and ALRC reports have been jointly certified by the Treasury and the Attorney-General’s Department as meeting the requirements of a RIS. Supplementary analysis has been provided to provide additional evidence for where the proposal varies, extends or adds to the PJC and ALRC recommendations. The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) does not assess the quality of independent reviews and RIS-like documents used in lieu of a RIS, but does assess whether the options analysed in the independent review are relevant to the regulatory proposal. The OBPR assessed that the options analysed in the independent review are sufficiently relevant to the regulatory proposal.
The agency estimates the average annual regulatory costs at $68,000 to $95,000.
Trove link to the PJCCFS report originally published on the APH website is HERE
Trove link to the ALRC report originally published on the ALRC website is HERE