alleviating the compliance burden on business from Commonwealth Government regulation. The Taskforce will examine and report on areas where regulatory reform can provide significant immediate gains to business. It will be chaired by Mr Gary Banks, Chairman of the Productivity Commission, and will also include Mr Dick Humphry, the former Managing Director of the Australian Stock Exchange, Mr Rod Halstead, a corporate law expert with Clayton Utz, and Mrs Angela MacRae, a consultant to small business and Chairman of the Independent Contractors Association of Australia. The Taskforce will: identify specific areas of Commonwealth Government regulation which are unnecessarily burdensome, complex, redundant or duplicate regulations in other jurisdictions; indicate those areas in which regulation should be removed or significantly reduced as a matter of priority; examine non-regulatory options (including business for achieving desired outcomes and how best to reduce duplication and increase harmonisation within existing regulatory frameworks; and provide practical options for alleviating the Commonwealth's 'red tape' burden on business, including family-run and small businesses. The Taskforce will report by 31 January 2006. While the Taskforce will focus on areas that are predominantly the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government, it is to identify key areas in which the regulatory burden arises from overlaps with State and Territory legislation. The Taskforce will consult closely with business groups and other stakeholders. The Government also intends to introduce a new annual review process to examine the cumulative of Australian Government regulation and identify an annual red tape reduction agenda. Reviews will be undertaken by the Productivity Commission. The Commission will call for public submissions on areas of red tape concern, based on a direction from the Treasurer and will propose an agenda to the Australian Government. The Taskforce's website address is www.regulationtaskforce.gov.au 1.4 Insolvency reform On 12 October 2005, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Australian Treasurer, the Hon Pearce MP, announced an integrated package of reforms to improve the operation of Australia's insolvency laws. The package proposes a number of reforms, including: improved access to the General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme (GEERS); enhancing the trial
The discussion paper and draft prudential standard are available on APRA's website. 1.10 IOSCO issues consultation report on international disclosure principles for cross-border offerings and listing of debt securities by foreign issuers On 3 October 2005, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) announced that it has published for public consultation a report on the 'International Disclosure Principles for Cross-Border Offerings and Listings of Debt Securities by Foreign Issuers' (International Debt Disclosure Principles). The consultation report sets out substantive disclosure principles for documents used in public offerings and listings of vanilla" corporate debt securities. IOSCO believes that the International Debt Disclosure Principles are especially pertinent given the increased volume of public offerings and listings of debt securities in the international capital markets, and the increased participation of retail investors in those markets. The International Debt Disclosure Principles should provide useful guidance to securities regulators who are developing or reviewing their regulatory disclosure regimes for cross-border offerings and listings of debt securities. The format for this project is expected to provide maximum flexibility and adaptability, so that the International Debt Disclosure Principles can potentially be applied to a broader range of debt securities. After the consultation process has concluded and all comments received from the public have been fully considered, IOSCO intends to issue a final version of the International Debt Disclosure Principles. A copy of the consultation report is available on the IOSCO website. 1.11 UK FSA publishes proposals for fund disclosures to retail clients On 30 September 2005, the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) published a consultation paper CP05/13 'Bundled Brokerage and Soft Commissions Arrangements for Retail Investment Funds' which addresses the issue of how to ensure that investors in retail funds benefit from the enhanced disclosure regime being introduced for firms for bundled brokerage and soft commissions from 1 January 2006. The paper examines how the needs and expectations of investors in retail funds can best be met and proposes measures that will support the FSA's aim of ensuring fairness and accountability for those investors. The overall objective of the FSA's new regime is that investment managers should achieve value for money for any expenditure that is charged through to their based