Foreign Investment Reform (Protecting Australia's National Security) Act 2020 (114 of 2020)

Schedule 3   Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets

Part 4   Transitional provisions

21   Transitional - interest in water

(1) This item applies to a person if:

(a) at any time before the Register commencement day, any of the following was given to the Commissioner of Taxation by or on behalf of a person:

(i) a notice under section 30H (holdings of water entitlements or contractual water rights as on 30 November 2017) of the old Register Act that related to a particular relevant water interest;

(ii) a notice under section 30K (changes of foreign persons' holdings of water entitlements or contractual water rights) of that Act of an event described in section 30L or 30N of that Act that related to a particular relevant water interest; and

(b) the person did not, at any time before the Register commencement day, give the Commissioner of Taxation a notice under section 30J or 30K of that Act of an event described in section 30M or 30P of that Act in relation to the relevant water interest.

Registered circumstance

(2) If, at the start of the Register commencement day, the person:

(a) is a foreign person; and

(b) holds the relevant water interest;

then:

(c) a registered circumstance under section 130ZE of the Act is taken to exist in relation to the person (despite subsection 130ZE(5) of the Act); and

(d) to avoid doubt, the registered circumstance may cease in accordance with the Act as if it were a registered circumstance under that section of the Act that exists because the person acquired the relevant water interest.

Notice that person is no longer a foreign person, or no longer holds interest

(3) If, at the start of the Register commencement day, the person:

(a) is not a foreign person; or

(b) does not hold the relevant water interest;

then:

(c) the person must give a notice to the Registrar; and

(d) the Act applies to that notice as if it were a register notice; and

(e) if paragraph (a) applies - the registrable event day for the register notice is the Register commencement day; and

(f) if paragraph (b) applies, and paragraph (a) does not apply - the registrable event day for the register notice is the later of:

(i) the Register commencement day; and

(ii) the day the person becomes aware, or ought reasonably to have become aware, that the person does not hold the relevant water interest.