APRA: court-based disqualification framework planned

The Federal Government plans to introduce a court-based process for disqualifying individuals under legislation administered by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).

The plan comes after the Government completed initial consultations on its December 2006 discussion paper, “Streamlining Prudential Regulation: Response to Rethinking Regulation”. The paper covered options to simplify and streamline prudential regulation in response to issues raised by the taskforce on reducing regulatory burdens.

According to a statement from the office of the Federal Treasurer, a number of submissions were put forward expressing concerns about the Government’s proposals in relation to reviewing APRA’s administrative decisions.

In light of industry comments, the Government will introduce a court-based process for decisions to disqualify individuals under APRA-administered legislation, similar to the disqualification framework used by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

The statement said the Government will consult further with industry on the implementation of the measure and on options for removing Ministerial consent from, and expanding the availability of, merit reviews for APRA’s decisions.

The Government plans to continue with other proposals canvassed in “Response to Rethinking Regulation”, with the aim of having legislation ready for introduction mid-way through its 2007 Parliamentary sittings.

The Government expects to be able to consult on draft legislation shortly.