The Payment Times Reporting Regulator is established under the Act.
The Regulator is responsible for administering the scheme. This includes monitoring and enforcing entities’ compliance with the reporting and other requirements.
The Regulator’s work is guided by five key principles to maximise compliance with the Act:
- promoting high levels of voluntary compliance by engaging and educating large businesses
- undertaking appropriate compliance and enforcement actions
- working with other government bodies to collaborate and share information
- providing transparency and reporting on actions
- undertaking activities with integrity and professionalism
The Regulator will prepare an annual report on the operation of the Act. It will be published as part of the department’s annual report.
Compliance and enforcement approach
The Regulator’s monitoring and compliance functions support the broader regulatory objectives to:
- enable small businesses to make more informed decisions about potential customers
- create incentives for large businesses to improve their payment terms and practices
The Regulator will generally seek to adopt a graduated approach to compliance and enforcement. This may include:
- engaging in outreach and education activities to raise awareness of the requirements
- working with a reporting entity to seek to address compliance issues before either imposing infringement notices or commencing court proceedings for a civil penalty
The Regulator may use more coercive compliance and enforcement tools if reporting entities demonstrate significant or repeated failure to comply with the Act.
Penalties may apply to reporting entities if they:
- fail to report
- provide false or misleading reports
- fail to keep records
- fail to comply with an audit notice
- fail to reasonably assist the auditor
The Regulator does not comment on matters under investigation, however where it is in the public interest to do so, the Regulator may make a public statement on an ongoing matter. The Regulator may in the future publish certain details concerning the compliance and enforcement actions that have been taken.
Prioritisation and escalation
The Regulator uses a combination of monitoring strategies to support our compliance programs. All signals of non-compliance are recorded and considered. This includes complaints.
The Regulator uses a triage system to determine the priority of the matter and how it will be actioned. In deciding on a course of action or escalation, the Regulator considers:
- the seriousness of the alleged non-compliance
- risk of harm to businesses from reliance on false, misleading or inaccurate information
- compliance history and behaviour of the entity
- the level of compliance of the particular industry sector
- the impact on public or business confidence to use or rely on the Payment times register