Law Council of Australia

Business Law Section

Consultation Statement 28 Proposed remake of hardship withdrawals relief (CS 28)

Submission Date: 30 October 2025

This submission concerning CS 28 is made by the Financial Services Committee of the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia (the Committee). The Committee thanks ASIC for the opportunity to provide feedback.

Background

ASIC released CS 28 on 27 August 2025 following its decision to extend the relief in ASIC Corporations (Hardship Withdrawals Relief) Instrument 2020/778 (the Legislative Instrument)—which was due to expire on 28 August 2025—for a further 18 months, until 28 February 2027.

The Legislative Instrument was made to facilitate withdrawals from registered managed investment schemes where the responsible entity has suspended withdrawals and ceased to allow the issue of new interests in the scheme for members facing financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. The relevant kinds of financial hardship are urgent financial hardship, unemployment, compassionate grounds and permanent incapacity. To be eligible to rely on the Legislative Instrument, responsible entities must meet certain obligations, including to inform ASIC and scheme members that it is relying on the Legislative Instrument.

The purpose of the extension is to allow responsible entities of registered schemes to continue to rely on the Legislative Instrument and allow ASIC time to consult further on the matter, following some targeted consultation with key stakeholders in which a variety of views about the Legislative Instrument were expressed.

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Last Updated on 11/11/2025

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