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Global rules on foreign direct investment (FDI)
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
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Australia | Publication | ottobre 2020
On 23 July 2020, the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) and other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 (Qld) (with amendments) received royal assent. The new Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2020 (Qld) (BIFOLA Act) amends various legislation, including the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (BIF Act) and the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 (Qld) (QBCC Act), which we covered in our previous article.
The provisions in part 4 of the BIF Amendment Bill relating to the project trust and retention trust regime (i.e. the replacement of the project bank account regime set out in chapter 2 of the BIF Act) (Trust Account Regime) were to commence on a date to be proclaimed.
On 27 August 2020, a Proclamation was issued under the BIFOLA Act. As expected, there will be a staggered approach to implementation of the Trust Account Regime, with full implementation not to occur until 1 January 2023. The phasing is as follows:
Phase | Date of commencement | Application of the Trust Account Regime |
1 | 1 March 2021 |
Applies to those contracts to which the existing project bank account regime applies, i.e. eligible State government building contracts with a contract price between $1 million and $10 million |
2A | 1 July 2021 | Applies to eligible State government and Hospital and Health Services’ building and construction contracts with a contract price of $1 million or more |
2B | 1 January 2022 | Applies to eligible private sector, local government, statutory authorities and government-owned corporations building and construction contracts with a contract price of $10 million or more |
3 | 1 July 2022 | Applies to eligible private sector, local government, statutory authorities’ and government-owned corporations’ building and construction contracts with a contract price of $3 million or more |
4 | 1 January 2023 | Applies to all eligible building and construction contracts with a contract price of $1 million or more |
Under the Trust Account Regime:
It is important to note that the Trust Account regime applies to contracts that are entered into on or after the commencement of the relevant section. However, if the tender process for the relevant contract was started before the relevant commencement date, the former PBA framework will apply to that contract.
Now that the relevant dates for the implementation of the Trust Account Regime are known, it is crucial that both principals and contractors start preparing for the implementation of the retention trust account regime, including by:
Separately, the Proclamation also provided (among other things) that effective 1 October 2020:
It is currently the case that under section 8 of schedule 1A of the QBCC Act, an unlicensed party may enter into a head contract to carry out building work if the work is not domestic building work or residential construction work and such person engages an appropriately licensed contractor to carry out the building work. However, from a date still to be proclaimed, this exemption will be removed from Schedule 1A and, accordingly, unlicensed head contractors will no longer have the benefit of the exemption (other exemptions remain unaffected).
The amendments also provide for a review of the role of developers in the building and construction industry, with a terms of reference to be determined and a report ultimately tabled in Parliament.
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