NSW Co-op Regulations available for comment

27 November 2013

Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe is calling on all stakeholders to have their say on the proposed Co-operatives (New South Wales) Regulation 2013.

“These draft NSW regulations are the fourth piece of legislation in the set that will comprise the new co-operatives laws in NSW,” Mr Stowe said.

“Although part of a uniform template regulatory scheme provided for under a national Australian Uniform Co-operatives Law Agreement, each state and territory must draft its own Local Regulations to support the new principal legislation, the Co-operatives National Law.”

Mr Stowe said over 600 co-operatives in NSW will benefit from the proposed reforms contained in the new CNL laws, such as the automatic authorisation of co-operatives wanting to carry on business across State and Territory borders.

“Small co-operatives will be able to make significant savings as a result of the simplification of the financial reporting and audit requirements applying to those co-operatives,” Mr Stowe said.

Stakeholders can comment on the draft NSW Local Regulations by visiting the NSW Fair Trading website and clicking on the “draft Co-operatives (New South Wales) Regulation item” under the “have your say” section of the home page.

“Co-operatives make a big difference to the communities in which they are established and provide stability for the prosperity of regional and rural areas,” Mt Stowe said.

“Fair Trading values the views of stakeholders and wants to hear from anyone involved in a cooperative on how they think these regulations might be improved to better achieve their purpose.”

The closing date for public comment on the draft NSW Regulations is 20 December 2013.

It is expected NSW and Victoria will commence their respective new CNL laws on 3 March 2014.

Source: NSW Fair Trading, 25 Nov