PERSONAL PROPERTY SECURITIES ACT EASY REFERENCE GUIDES

PPSA UPDATE – TEETHING ISSUES WITH THE PPSR

On 30 January 2012 the Personal Property Security Register (“PPSR”) came into effect, bringing some issues of its own – notably in relation to the migration of data from various registers to the PPSR.

ASIC have removed all unsatisfied charges from the ASIC database in anticipation of these charges being migrated to the PPSR. However, the PPSR have advised of errors that have lead to up to 30% of ASIC charges being removed from the ASIC database and not having been migrated to the PPSR.

Whilst the PPSR have advised that this issue will be rectified in a couple of weeks, this will cause problems in the interim.

As the PPSR has been designed to store a single organisation number, the impact is such that multiple searches must be conducted in order to be satisfied whether there are any ASIC registrations against a company on the PPSR.  Each search will incur a fee of $3.70.

Practical steps to take

With the implementation of the PPSR it is clear that, more than ever, the due diligence is required.  It is recommended that you:

1. Continue to undertake all searches performed prior to the commencement of the PPSA, even now that PPSR is live.
2. Late Breaking News!   Please note that all ASIC searches (current and historical) obtained after 30 January 2012 will not show any charges that were current prior to 30 January 2012 or that have been migrated. ASIC company searches will no longer provide any useful information in respect of current charges.
3. Given the issues associated with migrated data, search the PPSR in the following man
   
             (a)    Search first by ABN (as more ASIC charges were migrated with ABNs than ACNs);
   
             (b)    Search by ACN;
   
             (c)    Search by name.
   
   
4. To protect the interests of your clients, undertake a review of all documentation and revise it to bring it in line with the PPSA.
   
   

Does the PPSA affect your business? Click here to see our checklist “What Should I do now?”

Please contact a member of the PPSA team requiring any enquiries you may have about the impact PPSA and the PPSR may have upon your business or you personally.