{"id":"F2008L02166","name":"Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations 2008","slug":"cross-border-insolvency-regulations-2008","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"123 of 2008","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":74414,"registerId":"commonwealth-F2008L02166-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-02","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations 2008","content":"![](image.001.png)\n\nCross‑Border Insolvency Regulations 20081\n\nSelect Legislative Instrument 2008 No. 123\n\nI, PHILIP MICHAEL JEFFERY, Governor‑General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, make the following Regulations under the Cross‑Border Insolvency Act 2008.\n\nDated 19 June 2008\n\nP. M. JEFFERY\n\nGovernor‑General\n\nBy His Excellency’s Command\n\nNICK SHERRY\n\nMinister for Superannuation and Corporate Law\n\n1 Name of Regulations\n\nThese Regulations are the Cross‑Border Insolvency Regulations 2008.\n\n2 Commencement\n\nThese Regulations commence immediately after the commencement of Parts 2, 3 and 4 of the Act.\n\n3 Definitions\n\nIn these Regulations:\n\n> Act means the Cross‑Border Insolvency Act 2008.\n\n> ADI has the same meaning as in the Banking Act 1959.\n\n> general insurer has the same meaning as in the Insurance Act 1973.\n\n> life company has the same meaning as in the Life Insurance Act 1995.\n\n4 Prescribed entities (Act s 9)\n\nFor section 9 of the Act, the entities listed in Schedule 1 are prescribed entities.\n\nSchedule 1 Prescribed entities\n\n(regulation 4)\n\n| Item | Entities         |\n| ---- | ---------------- |\n| 1    | ADIs             |\n| 2    | General insurers |\n| 3    | Life companies   |\n\n> Note\n\n> Note: 1. All legislative instruments and compilations are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments kept under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. See http://www.frli.gov.au.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The instrument does not enlarge or narrow the Cross‑Border Insolvency Act itself; it performs a single administrative role by designating certain classes of financial firms as \"prescribed entities\" for section 9. The Regulations do not introduce additional obligations, procedures or exceptions beyond that designation (regulation 4; Schedule 1)."},"complexity_factors":["Very short instrument with few operative provisions (name, commencement, definitions, prescribing entities).","Relies on cross‑references to other Acts for technical definitions (Banking Act 1959; Insurance Act 1973; Life Insurance Act 1995) (regulation 3).","Effect is entirely contingent on the substantive Cross‑Border Insolvency Act 2008 (regulation 4 refers to Act s 9).","Commencement timing depends on commencement of Parts 2–4 of the Act (regulation 2), adding a sequencing dependency.","Uses a simple schedule to list categories rather than case‑by‑case criteria (Schedule 1)."],"plain_english_summary":"### What these Regulations do, in plain English\n\n- These Regulations formally list which kinds of financial firms are treated as “prescribed entities” for the purposes of section 9 of the Cross‑Border Insolvency Act 2008. (regulation 4; Schedule 1.)\n\n- They are made under the Cross‑Border Insolvency Act 2008 by the Governor‑General on advice of the Federal Executive Council and name the Minister associated with the instrument. The Regulations come into effect immediately after Parts 2, 3 and 4 of the Act commence. (preamble; regulation 2.)\n\n- The Regulations also set out short definitions that point to other legislation for certain terms: “ADI” is defined as in the Banking Act 1959; “general insurer” as in the Insurance Act 1973; and “life company” as in the Life Insurance Act 1995. (regulation 3.)\n\n- The Schedule (Schedule 1) lists the prescribed entities: (1) ADIs, (2) general insurers, and (3) life companies. (regulation 4; Schedule 1.)\n\n### Who this affects\n\n- The categories of firms listed in Schedule 1: authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs), general insurers, and life insurance companies — as those terms are defined in the cited banking and insurance Acts. (regulation 3; Schedule 1.)\n\n- The Regulations do not themselves set obligations or remedies; they operate by designating those classes as “prescribed entities” for the Act’s section 9. Any legal consequences of being a prescribed entity are set out in the Cross‑Border Insolvency Act 2008 (not repeated here). (regulation 4.)\n\n### Why it matters (mechanics and implementation considerations)\n\n- Mechanically, the instrument performs a single administrative function: it identifies particular categories of financial firms so that section 9 of the Act can operate with clear, predefined classes. (regulation 4; Schedule 1.)\n\n- The Regulations rely on cross‑references to other Acts for the technical meaning of the listed categories. That means the scope of the designation depends on the definitions in the Banking Act 1959, Insurance Act 1973 and Life Insurance Act 1995. (regulation 3.)\n\n- Who decides: the instrument is made by the Governor‑General acting on executive advice and is presented as a legislative instrument under the Act (preamble). Who is affected: the firms that fall into the listed categories under the cited Acts. (preamble; regulation 3; Schedule 1.)\n\n- Implementation and compliance considerations: the Regulations themselves do not impose detailed regulatory duties or procedural steps; they create a legal label (\"prescribed entity\") that the primary Act will apply to the listed classes. Any costs, duties or procedural changes that flow from being a prescribed entity are governed by the Cross‑Border Insolvency Act 2008 rather than by these Regulations. (regulation 4.)\n\n- This design reduces the need to repeat technical definitions in the Regulations but ties the effect of the designation to changes in the underlying banking and insurance statutes (because the listed categories reference those Acts). (regulation 3.)\n\n### Concrete trade‑offs and operational notes\n\n- Benefit of approach: clear, categorical identification of which industry sectors are captured under section 9 (Schedule 1), which supports consistent application of the Act once its relevant parts commence (regulation 2).\n\n- Trade‑off: the Regulation’s effect depends on external definitions. If those definitions change in the cited Acts, the set of firms captured here will change correspondingly, without amendment to these Regulations (regulation 3; Schedule 1).\n\n- Administrative discretion is limited within this instrument: it does not create case‑by‑case discretion or additional compliance steps; it is a classification instrument that operates through the Cross‑Border Insolvency Act. (regulation 4.)\n\n- Record/registry note: the instrument reminds readers that legislative instruments and compilations are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments. (note.)"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The regulations perform exactly the limited function intended: prescribing specific financial entities for exclusion from the Cross-Border Insolvency Act framework. The scope remains narrow and technical, consistent with the original purpose of carving out regulated financial institutions from the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency implementation."},"complexity_factors":["Only 4 regulations total","Minimal defined terms (4 definitions, all referencing other Acts)","Single operative provision (regulation 4) with a simple table","No conditional logic or nested exceptions","No cross-references beyond basic interpretation references to parent Acts","Extremely short length (approximately 1 page of substantive content)"],"plain_english_summary":"These regulations support the Cross-Border Insolvency Act 2008 by listing which types of Australian financial institutions are excluded from the main insolvency rules when dealing with international cases.\n\n**What this does:**\nThe regulations identify three specific types of financial entities that are \"prescribed entities\" — meaning they get special treatment under the cross-border insolvency laws:\n- **ADIs** (Authorized Deposit-taking Institutions — basically banks and credit unions)\n- **General insurers** (companies that sell insurance policies)\n- **Life companies** (life insurance companies)\n\n**Why this matters:**\nNormally, the Cross-Border Insolvency Act helps Australian courts cooperate with foreign courts when a company goes broke and has assets or debts in multiple countries. However, these financial institutions are heavily regulated already (under separate banking and insurance laws), so they're carved out from the main cross-border insolvency framework. This keeps Australia's financial system stable by ensuring banks and insurers follow their specific regulatory regimes instead of general international insolvency rules.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- Banks, credit unions, and other ADIs\n- Insurance companies\n- Foreign creditors trying to recover debts from these Australian institutions\n- Courts handling international insolvency cases involving Australian financial entities"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/cross-border-insolvency-regulations-2008","history":"/api/acts/cross-border-insolvency-regulations-2008/history","analysis":"/api/acts/cross-border-insolvency-regulations-2008/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/cross-border-insolvency-regulations-2008/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/cross-border-insolvency-regulations-2008/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/cross-border-insolvency-regulations-2008/documents"}}