Coercive Information-Gathering Powers

In Australia’s heavily regulated economy, companies are increasingly the subject of the coercive information-gathering powers of regulators. The power of regulators to issue notices for the purpose of gathering information raises numerous important compliance issues for companies. Freehills has recently provided a submission to the Administrative Review Council (ARC) on a draft report which considers the need for reform in this area.

Regulators and Powers

It has been estimated that there could be ‘up to 600 regulators Australia-wide’, including Commonwealth, state and territory governments, specialist industry bodies, ministerial councils, standard-setting bodies and trade associations.