Mr Jeremy Cooper, Deputy Chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) today announced amendments to Class Order [CO 98/1418] Wholly-owned entities, which clarify the level of certification required by a legal practitioner under the class order.
‘The amendments create greater certainty for lawyers giving certificates for the purposes of the class order’, Mr Cooper said.
Under the class order, certain wholly-owned companies may be relieved from the requirement to prepare and lodge audited financial statements under Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act 2001 (the Act), where they enter into deeds of cross guarantee with their parent entity and meet certain conditions.
The certificate must contain a statement relating to the signing of the deed of cross guarantee or any assumption deed that adds further companies. The amendments make it clear that the lawyer need only certify that the deed appears to have been signed or sealed in accordance with section 127 of the Act.
‘The changes ensure that certain presumptions about acts done on behalf of a corporation and the authority of its officers in the Act are able to be relied on by the lawyer when giving the certificate’, Mr Cooper said.
End of release
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- Class Order [CO 98/1418] Wholly-owned entities
- Amending Class Order [CO 05/542] Variation of Class Order 98/1418 - certificates by legal practitioners
- More about Class Order 98/1418