Employer-sponsored superannuation products have been given relief from having to lodge a notice stating that a product disclosure statement is "in-use" under the Corporations Act.
The in-use notice makes the Australian Securities and Investments Commission aware of who is issuing financial products and which financial products are available in the market.
Under the current law a PDS or supplementary PDS requires an in-use notice to be lodged with ASIC within five days of it first being given to a client.
ASIC has given relief to permit the lodgement of a single in-use notice in relation to the common part used by each PDS or supplementary PDS for employer-sponsored superannuation products.
Issuers using this new procedure will also be required to give ASIC a list of those superannuation products a list of those superannuation products that have used that common part. The list is also to be updated monthly.
ASIC director of legal and technical operations, financial services regulation said the relief allowed in-use information to be provided to ASIC in a way that reduced the administrative burden for trustees of superannuation funds with large numbers of essentially identical products that would otherwise require the lodgement of an in-use notice for each product.
A copy of the ASIC class order governing the in-use relief can be found at www.asic.gov.au or be obtained by phoning 1300 300 630.