Design and Distribution Obligations and Product Intervention Power
The submission was prepared by the Superannuation Committee of the Law Council of Australia's Legal Practice Section.
The Committee is grateful for the opportunity to provide comments on the Proposals Paper entitled Design and Distribution Obligations and Product Intervention Power (December 2016) (the Proposals Paper).
The Committee's submission is guided by its objectives which are to ensure that the law relating to superannuation in Australia is sound, equitable and clear.
The Committee therefore confines its submission to:
- Question 1: 'Are there any financial products where the existing level of consumer protections means they should be excluded from the [design and distribution] measures (for example, default (MySuper) or mass-customised (comprehensive income products for retirement) superannuation products)?'
- Question 9: 'If [the design and distribution measures] apply to unlicensed issuers and distributors, are there any unlicensed entities that should be excluded from the obligations (for example, entities covered by the regulatory sandbox exemption)?'
- Question 23: 'Do you agree that ASIC should be able to make interventions in relation to the product (or product feature), the types of consumers that can access a product or the circumstances in which a consumer can access the product?'
The Committee responds to each of these questions, in turn.
You can read the full submission below.