Insights

From 1 January 2026, Australia’s new merger clearance regime goes live and it’s a game changer for M&A in Australia.

The ban will require social media platforms to take reasonable steps to ensure that children under the age of 16 are prohibited from creating or holding a social media account.

In M&A transactions involving technology or software companies, the key asset of the target or seller entity is often a proprietary software platform or product. The source code of these kinds of platforms or products may include “open source software”, which can present certain risks for buyers.

With heightened market volatility and increasing regulatory approvals, deal certainty has become a premium commodity in the M&A landscape.

Following a public consultation process, ASIC has now released its updated guidance on whether or not digital assets will be subject to regulation under the Australian financial services regime.

ASIC’s full list of priorities provides interesting insights for business as to the highest-risk areas for corporate compliance and flags the issues that deserve extra attention and vigilance in the coming year.

From 1 April 2025, the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct (Code) became mandatory for Australia’s major retailers, including Coles, Woolworths, ALDI and Metcash. The new Code now carries real teeth with breaches attracting fines of up to $10 million, three times the value of the benefit derived or 10% of annual turnover.

On 15 October 2025, the ACCC and the Australian Energy Regulator released their joint Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2025. But it’s not just a recap – it’s a warning. Sweeping merger reforms, intensified enforcement and digital oversight are here.

The Microsoft case follows a broader global trend targeting manipulative tactics that lure customers into subscriptions that they don’t understand or intend to sign up for, or make cancelling and switching subscription plans unnecessarily difficult.

The prohibition against resale price maintenance is extremely broad and has implications for all businesses which supply goods to distributors or retailers in Australia.

On 20 October 2025, ASX released a consultation paper seeking feedback on potential reforms to the ASX Listing Rules to expand shareholder approval requirements for certain equity funded transactions. Feedback is also being sought about listing status changes and delistings by dual-listed companies.

Two significant reforms have been introduced to the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) (Act) by the 2025 Amendment Bill (Bill), relating to orphan works and remote learning