Corporations Noticeboard March 2021 - Part 5.3B of the Corporations Act 2000 (Cth)
The Corporations Amendment (Corporate Insolvency Reforms) Act 2020 (Cth) (the Act) commenced on 1 January 2021, following the conclusion of temporary insolvency law relief measures which protected financially distressed businesses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The purpose of the Act included the amendment of the Corporations Act to:
- establish a debt restructuring process for eligible small companies and provide temporary relief for eligible companies seeking to enter the process;
- expand the situations where documents relating to the external administration of a company may be given electronically and allow documents relating to the external administration of a company to be signed electronically; and
- establish a simplified liquidation process for the purpose of winding up the affairs and distributing the property of an eligible company in a creditors' voluntary winding up, as well as the requirements for entering and exiting the process.
On a related issue, ARITA issued the Code of Professional Practice 4th edition (ARITA Code), effective 1 January 2020. The ARITA Code sets the standards for Members in the provision of quality and ethical Insolvency and Advisory Services. The Code is made up of the Introduction, the Code of Ethics, Code of Professional Practice: Insolvency Services (COPP: Insolvency Services) and Code of Professional Practice: Advisory Services (COPP: Advisory Services). Practice Statements are available which provide detailed explanations to support the Code but do not form part of it. The author has included reference to the Code’s relevant provisions throughout the commentary.
The new commentary addressing the Act is complemented by the inclusion of precedents appropriate for the new regime.
The Corporations Law Practice Area in new Westlaw contains a comprehensive offering on corporations law in Australia, with annotated legislation and commentary works that cover general and specialised corporations topics. Key titles include Robson’s Annotated Corporations Legislation, Australian Commercial Precedents: Corporations Precedents, ASIC Corporate Investigations and Hearings, Corporations Legislation and the ASIC Digest. The Corporations Law Noticeboard is geared to deliver news items of interest and significance written and curated by in-house editors. To subscribe to the Corporations Law Practice Area on new Westlaw, contact Thomson Reuters.
Cassandra is an experienced Senior Content Manager in the Analytical Law Team at Thomson Reuters with a history of over 30 years working in the information services industry after leaving practice in the Banking sector. She holds a Bachelor of Law from Sydney University. In her years with Thomson Reuters, she has worked in many areas including writing for Industrial Relations and Anti-Money Laundering publications, undertaken extensive indexing training and work of both new and updated publications, commissioning across the Team’s portfolio and edited a wide range of works. Cassandra’s current portfolio includes publications within the anti-money laundering, banking and finance, insolvency and civil court practice areas within both the Queensland and Federal jurisdictions. Cassandra is also responsible for the compilation of the daily Alert24 newsletter which covers most practice areas of busy city and regional practices.