Tuesday 21 April 2015

Australian ISPs beware


Australia’s piracy laws could be anchoring some big ships with a new Copyright Bill introduced into the Australian Parliament.  The Bill gives power to the Federal Court to grant injunctions requiring internet service providers (ISPs) to take ‘reasonable steps’ to disable access to sites that infringe or facilitate the infringement of copyright. 

Monday 20 April 2015

Treasurer proposes 'Netflix tax' on supply of intangible services into Australia


Non-resident suppliers to prepare for Australian GST to apply at source of payment

A planned change to apply Australian GST to the source of payment for intangible services, regardless of the location of the source of the service, would require non-resident suppliers to pay GST on supplies of digital content (e.g. music, films, games), licensed rights (e.g. software), services provided and other intangible rights sourced from outside Australia.

A change to the current $1,000 low value threshold before GST applies to imported goods is also planned in association with these changes for intangible services.

Accordingly non-resident suppliers of services or goods should commence preparation for Australian GST to apply to their supplies at source of payment in Australia - including reviewing their pricing and contracts to ensure they are able to recover the additional GST cost from their business and retail customers.

Thursday 2 April 2015

Competitive Tension - Harper Review Final Report recommends some real change


The Commonwealth Government has been conducting a review of Australia’s competition laws to see if they are fit for purpose.  (Click here to see what we had to say about the draft recommendations last October).  The Minister for Small Business released the Final Report of the Competition Policy Review Panel on Tuesday (31 March 2015).  While a number of the draft recommendations have made it into the Final Report, there are also some significant new changes.  Some will fundamentally change the competition law landscape in Australia…if they eventually get into the legislation.