ASIC has issued Consultation Paper 117 seeking public comment on whether to withdraw current class order relief that allows issuers of investment products to cite credit ratings in disclosure documents without the consent of credit rating agencies.

Currently a class order provides relief from the requirement that an issuer must not cite a statement made by a person in a prospectus or PDS, unless the person has consented to that statement being included in the form and context in which it appears. The class order relief permits issuers to cite credit ratings from Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investor Service and Fitch Ratings in a prospectus or PDS without the consent of credit rating agencies themselves.