The efficacy of civil penalty sanctions under the Australian Corporations Law

This report is a summary of a detailed research report prepared by the authors titled Regulating Directors’ Duties—How Effective are the Civil Penalty Sanctions in the Australian Corporations Law?

Although civil penalties for enforcement of directors’ duties have been available to Australian securities regulators since 1993, they are rarely used. The authors identify four reasons for these developments including resource constraints, relations with other regulatory agencies, availability of alternative sanctions, and concerns about the utility of civil penalties.