Business Law

The ways in which parties may deal with their legal obligations when a contract becomes difficult or impossible to perform, apart from termination, are generally limited to reliance on a force majeure clause or on the doctrine of frustration. Force Majeure Temporary or permanent relief,…

People are often advised by their accountants that they should structure themselves by starting a company for one main reason: limited liability of directors, shadow directors (people who may not be registered as a director but for all intents and purposes are the guiding minds…

Why should an Australian business concern themselves with international sanctions? Where a business has international operations, customers or suppliers they should be aware of their continuing obligations and level of risk under Australian sanction law. Administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade under…

We are currently acting to defend a client who is being sued by notorious share market raider David Tweed through his company Direct Share Purchasing Corporation. Mr Tweed’s modus operandii is to require company’s to provide a list of their share registry, which under present…

Just a reminder that the Personal Property Securities Register is now active for the purpose of registering details of security interests in personal property. The website is www.ppsr.gov.au. For the purpose of making use of the Registrar it is important to:- Review your terms of trade…

ASIC expects to commence operating a new Business Names register from 28 May 2012 which will allow for the national registration of Business Names rather than the current State-by-State system. Once implemented all new business names will be handled by ASIC and existing State-based registrations…

A new National Business Names Registrations System is expected to commence on 28 May 2012. Under this new system, ASIC will administer the registration of business names, which is currently a function of the Departments of Justice in the States and Territories. If your business…

The recent Federal Budget contains a number of new initiatives designed at clamping down on ‘phoenix activity’ while also giving the Australian Taxation Office extra powers to deal with employers’ failure to pay superannuation via an expansion of Director Penalty Notices (DPN). These changes are…

The Associations Incorporation Act 1981 (Vic) governs the incorporation of not-for-profit clubs and societies. Every association incorporated under that Act must have Rules, and the Act provides a list of matters for which rules must cover.  The Act also provides that an association or club may simply…