The Corporations Legislation Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 2) have been made to facilitate the transition to the new eight page PDS regime for certain financial products, including superannuation and simple managed investment schemes (SMIS).

Under these Regulations issuers can:

• remain in the existing regime until 22 June 2012 for a particular product and its PDS;
• opt in to the new shorter PDS regime for a particular product early if the issuer is ready to do so; or
• continue to issue supplementary PDSs until 22 June 2012 for a particular product where a shorter PDS has already been issued.

The Regulations also:

• confirm that pure risk products are excluded from the regime;
• confirm that combined defined benefit and accumulation products are included in the regime;
• address situations where applications for financial products are electronically lodged;
• provide for the inclusion of relevant information for a shorter PDS issued for a brand-new SMIS; and
• clarify wording in relation to incorporation by reference for the significant benefits and features and the taxation aspects of SMIS.