Recent Australian Continuous Disclosure Developments

Further light is gradually being shed on the approach of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission ("ASIC") to enforcing the continuous disclosure laws and on the judicial view of factors that are relevant to imposing civil penalties for breaches of the laws. While ASIC has recently launched legal proceedings against several individuals and companies it alleges have engaged in serious contraventions of the continuous disclosure laws, these cases must still proceed to hearing. In the meantime, most of the recent developments in relation to Australia’s continuous disclosure laws have occurred as a result of ASIC’s use of its relatively new civil penalty powers for contraventions of the law.