Government scraps ‘nil complaints’ requirement ahead of DDO start
The government has made an amendment to the incoming Design and Distribution laws which will see advisers no longer need to fulfil unnecessary and burdensome “nil reporting” requirements.
Under the legislation underpinning design and distribution obligations (DDO), financial advisers and licensees who are distributors of financial products were required to report complaints in writing on a regular basis to product issuers.
This also included submitting a “nil complaints” report if no complaints about the product were received.
But ahead of the 5 October DDO start, Treasury said it was removing the requirement for financial advisers to report “nil complaints” to product issuers.
“Distributors will still be required to report to issuers, complaints and other requested information that they receive, assisting issuers to assess whether their product governance arrangements are appropriate and their products are meeting the needs of consumers,” Treasury stated.
Treasury noted it will also rely on ASIC to utilise its intervention powers when implementing the change as obligations are set to begin in less than three weeks.
“To provide certainty on the application of the DDO regime in the period prior to the government making these amendments, ASIC, following a targeted consultation, will consider making short-term interim changes consistent with the government’s policy intentions, using its modification and exemption powers under s994L of the Corporations Act,” Treasury explained.
“This will allow the government time to make these changes permanent and will avoid industry needing to implement product governance arrangements, ahead of commencement, for products that are ultimately not intended to be caught by these reforms.”
Tony Zhang
Tony Zhang is a journalist at Accountants Daily, which is the leading source of news, strategy and educational content for professionals working in the accounting sector.
Since joining the Momentum Media team in 2020, Tony has written for a range of its publications including Lawyers Weekly, Adviser Innovation, ifa and SMSF Adviser. He has been full-time on Accountants Daily since September 2021.
