FATCA provisions were introduced by the US to combat tax evasion by US persons holding investments in non-US accounts.

:Changes to NSW's security of payment laws mean you should review construction contracts now.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand ("FSANZ") has recently released Proposal P293 Nutrition, Health & Related Claims Consultation Paper for first review.

Calculating the time for performance of legal obligations requires careful consideration of the language of the document imposing the obligation.

Recognising that its draft provisions on unfair contract terms released last month have a very broad application to many standard business-to-business contracts, the Federal Government has announced some important exclusions in response to stakeholder feedback.

The recent Federal Court decision in Quinn v Overland [2010] FCA 799 highlights the increasing recognition placed by courts on the importance of the non-pecuniary aspects of a workplace to employees.

The Full Bench of Fair Work Australia (FWA) has overturned the decision which held that a dispute resolution term in an enterprise agreement must allow for disputes to be settled by arbitration, whether the parties want to or not.

In 2001 Australia introduced the world's first mandatory renewable energy scheme, under which new renewable energy generators earned a credit for each megawatt-hour of renewable energy created.

At the beginning of this week, the Senate passed the long awaited Offshore Petroleum Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage) Bill (Cth). The Bill amends the Offshore Petroleum Act 2006 (Cth) and establishes a regulatory framework for greenhouse gas (GHG) capture and long-term geological storage (CCS).

Amendments to the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 have just been passed by the Federal Parliament, allowing reporting obligations to be transferred to an entity with financial control over a facility.

It is currently unclear whether the new NSW requirements will impose additional burdens on mortgagees.

The recent sale of the Adelaide to Darwin railway project is a good example of commercial drivers and risk allocation on a PPP deal working as originally intended.

Australia could be about to ban the patenting of a wide range of biological materials, if the new Patent Amendment (Human Genes and Biological Materials) Bill 2010 is passed.

. . . copyright does not automatically exist in a medical records such as prescriptions, health summaries, referral letters and consultation notes. She determined that the existence of copyright in a medical record must be determined on a case-by-case basis.

A finding of contributory negligence still turns on a factual investigation of whether the plaintiff contributed to his or her own loss.

Proposed changes to NSW's class actions laws could see it leap-frog the Federal and Victorian court systems to become the most popular forum for class actions in Australia.

On 21 November 2008, the Australian Government announced a review of the International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth), an essential and welcome step in improving its operation and promoting Australia as a place for international arbitration.

In these proceedings, an Italian bottle manufacturer appealed a decision by the SA District Court to stay proceedings .

The Federal Government has released drafts of the National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) Legislation. They intend to garner feedback and, where necessary, refine the legislation.

On 26 November reforms to the Radiocommunications Act 1992 (the Radcomms Act) were passed in relation to spectrum licence renewals. This follows announcements by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy earlier this year that spectrum licence reissue will be considered for those existing 15 year spectrum licensees who are already using their spectrum licences to provide services to significant numbers of Australian consumers, or who have in place networks capable of pr