The Rules Have Changed
business, commercial and corporate team of the firm. Roger's particular
specialty areas of practice are mergers and acquisitions, corporate
governance, and banking and finance. He is a Law Society Accredited
Specialist in both business law and property law and has been a
member of the State Law Society Business Law Committee for many
years. He holds public company and government entity directorships in
industries as diverse as banking and finance and health.
Level 15, 9 Castlereagh Street
Sydney , NSW 2000
Australia
+61-2-9233 7411 Phone
+61-2-9233 7422 Fax
rdowns@kells.com.au
www.kells.com.au
changed significantly as the Personal
Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) (PPSA)
came into full effect this year.
The PPSA has washed away a com-
plex jumble of laws related to personal
property in Australia to adopt a fresh
approach based on legislation in Canada
and New Zealand.
or trades with Australian businesses
needs to be aware of the new regime and
in particular the need to register certain
interests within strict time frames or
face losing priority. Personal property
captured under the new PPSA regime
includes intellectual property, mak-
ing registration important for foreign
companies who license their intellectual
property to Australian businesses.
legislative instruments (at both state and
federal levels) and promotes a single
register that supersedes 23 different
registers that were used throughout Aus-
tralia to record interests in various types
of personal property including motor
vehicles, boats, deeds and charges over
company assets.
The PPSA does not simply codify the
laws it has replaced but instead imposes
a
property includes practically anything,
except land or water rights or a right or
entitlement expressed under Australian
law not to be personal property.
While interests in personal property
can be perfected by possession and con-
trol, the majority of commercial transac-
tions will rely on registration on the PPS
Register for perfection of the interest.
to Company B
respect of the leased sheds.
sets of Company B as collateral for
loans
appoints a receiver over Company
B's assets.
register its interest, the Court held that
Bank C's registered interest over the
assets of Company B (including the
sheds leased from A) prevailed over
the ownership interest of Company A.
Company A was left as an unsecured
creditor of Company B.
The outcome in the above scenario
would have been quite different had
Company A simply registered its inter-
est within the time required when it
leased the sheds to Company B.
ally accepted relevance of ownership
and title and promotes the supremacy