The Corporations Amendment (Phoenixing and Other Measures) Bill 2012 has been passed by both Houses of Parliament and is awaiting Royal Assent.

UPDATE: Royal Assent was given on 26 May 2012. Download the Act as passed.

The principal object is to amend the Corporations Act 2001 to give ASIC the power to place a company into liquidation in order to remove current impediments to workers accessing their entitlements under the General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme (GEERS).

The present position is that the employees of an abandoned company must apply to the courts to have the company wound up under the Corporations Act before they can access GEERS. If ASIC has already deregistered the abandoned company, ASIC or the company’s employees must apply to the courts to have the company re-registered before it can be wound up.

To enable employees to access their entitlements under GEERS when the directors of a company simply abandon it, the Bill empowers ASIC to wind up the company without first going through either of these processes.

The Bill empowers ASIC to order the winding up of a company in four separate sets of circumstances: where the company otherwise meets the requirements for ASIC-initiated deregistration of the company; if the company’s review fee in respect of a review date has not been paid in full at least 12 months after the date for payment; where ASIC has reinstated the registration of a company and has reason to believe that the winding up of the company would be in the public interest; and where ASIC has reason to believe that the company is no longer carrying on business, and the company or its directors do not object to a notice from ASIC informing them of the proposed winding up of the company.

Before making a winding up order, ASIC must give notice of its intention to make the order on the ASIC database, and publish notice of its intention, in the manner prescribed.