It is now one year since ASIC launched the insolvency notices website. The website, which took over from a system where notices were advertised in the print media or gazette, was launched on 1 July 2012, and provides a single point for searching almost all notices on external administration and company deregistration.

On 1 July 2013, the cost to publish a notice on the website changed. The vast majority of notices that previously attracted a fee of $400 now cost $145, while notices that attracted a fee of $64, increased slightly to $66 due to indexation.

In the first year of operation, 3,382 registered users published 29,709 notices and ASIC published 112,942 notices of intention to deregister a company.

ASIC Commissioner John Price said, ‘ASIC’s insolvency website contributes to a fairer and more efficient market by reducing cost and providing better opportunities for affected stakeholders to access important notices relating to insolvent companies, and companies being deregistered, from a single, easy-to-search source’.

Recent enhancements enable a tailored search to find a specific notice or group of notices. Users can also save their search criteria and the website will send an email when a published notice meets that criteria. Further, users can now download their search results up to 10 records at a time.

ASIC intends to undertake a project this financial year to make sure that registered liquidators are meeting their obligations to publish the required notices on the website and the notices are published within the statutory time frames. This is to ensure the full benefits of the website are realised.