Independent Review – Department of the Treasury
On 19 October 2017 the Government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Banking Measures No 1) Bill 2017 to Parliament.
The Bill amends the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to introduce reforms to improve consumer outcomes under credit card contracts. These reforms reduce the likelihood of consumers being granted excessive credit limits, align the way interest is charged with consumers’ reasonable expectations and make it easier for consumers to reduce a credit limit or terminate a credit card.
The report of the Senate Economics References Committee inquiry, Interest rates and informed choice in the Australian credit card market (the Final Report), has been certified by the Treasury as meeting the standards of an Australian Government Regulation Impact Statement (RIS). The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) does not assess independent reviews.
The Treasury was compliant with the Australian Government RIS requirements. However, the Treasury was not consistent with best practice at the transparency stage. This is because the independent review was not included in the explanatory memorandum of the bill.
The Treasury estimates the average annual regulatory cost at $36.4 million. The OBPR has agreed with this estimate.
The Final Report is available on the Australian Parliament’s website.