Law Council of Australia

Business Law Section

Proposed update to ASIC’s Regulatory Guidance 168 on Product Disclosure Statements

Submission Date: 13 August 2025

This submission is made by the Financial Services Committee of the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia (the Committee) in response to Consultation Statement 22: Proposed update to ASIC’s guidance on Product Disclosure Statements (CS 22), which was released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for consultation on 9 July 2025.

Background

ASIC is proposing to update Regulatory Guide 168 Product Disclosure Statements (and other disclosure obligations) (RG 168), so that it will be a comprehensive source of guidance on content and related requirements for Product Disclosure Statement (PDSs), and will no longer include material relating to other types of disclosure documents that must be given to retail clients (which ASIC considers is already adequately covered separately in other regulatory guides).

Key Points

The key matters that the Committee wishes to bring to ASIC’s attention are as follows:

  1. The Committee supports ASIC’s proposal to consolidate guidance on PDSs into a single comprehensive guide, which will improve accessibility and reduce regulatory complexity. However, this must be implemented with appropriate safeguards to preserve quality and maintain accuracy in technical detail.
  2. The Committee has identified critical technical guidance in each of Information Sheet 94 Notification requirements for Product Disclosure Statements (INFO 94), Regulatory Guide 65 Section 1013DA disclosure guidelines
  3. (RG 65), and Regulatory Guide 219 Non-standard margin lending facilities: Disclosure to investors (RG 219), which the Committee believes should be covered in greater detail in RG 168 to maintain the effectiveness of the ASIC regulatory guidance which is currently available.
  4. The Committee recommends that the new RG 168 include comprehensive coverage of digital disclosure challenges for PDSs, building on but going beyond the general guidance in Regulatory Guide 221 Facilitating digital financial services disclosure (RG 221).
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Last Updated on 11/11/2025

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