Government to halve the cost of searching ASIC online business registries

The federal government plans to make it cheaper for individuals and businesses to search the online business registries administered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), starting next year.

From July 1, 2019, the $40 fee currently charged to access a roles and relationship extract from the ASIC database will be cut to $19, in a move that Minister for Revenue and Financial Services Kelly O’Dwyer and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann say will “reduce the burden on individuals and business”.

While some ASIC searches can be done for free, ASIC currently charges between $9 and $40 for a range of company and organisation searches completed online.

Other searches, such as those for banned and disqualified people, can only be conducted via mail for a fee.

The government is also extending a fee exemption for searches to all journalists, which O’Dwyer and Cormann said will “facilitate free access to important information about companies and financial services providers”.

In a statement, they said the fee changes will not affect ASIC’s budget resources.

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