The Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Act 2026 (Act) strengthens the director identification number (DIN) regime, also known as the Director ID regime and gives Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) broader powers to maintain business registers. It received Royal Assent on 30 June 2026. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Regulations 2026 commenced on 11 July 2026, but the core Director ID reporting requirements commence on 1 July 2027.

The central practical change is that Director IDs will be drawn into ordinary company registration and reporting processes from 1 July 2027. Companies should use the lead time to update director onboarding, check the information held for existing directors and ensure ASIC communications are monitored.

There are three important commencement dates:

• 30 June 2026 – provisions relating to the administration of the business registers commenced on Royal Assent, including amendments concerning the Registrar's functions and the administration of registry information;
• 1 July 2026 – key ASIC registry powers commenced, including ASIC's new power to deregister a company where it has reason to believe information given to ASIC is materially false, misleading or deceptive, and new powers to correct, publish and restrict access to information on ASIC registers; and
• 1 July 2027 – the core Director ID reporting requirements commence, including requirements for companies and other registrable bodies to provide Director IDs to ASIC when registering a company, appointing or ceasing to have a director or alternate director or notifying changes to a director's personal details.

The Act follows the decision to discontinue the Modernising Business Registers program. That program was intended to transfer more than 30 commonwealth business registers to a central platform administered through Australian Business Registry Services. Instead, ASIC will continue to administer the principal business registers, supported by targeted reforms intended to improve the accuracy, integrity and accessibility of registry information.

The Director ID regime remains in place under the existing framework. The Act links it more closely with ASIC's Companies Register and makes ASIC the intended sole enforcement agency for Director ID contraventions.

The reforms fall into three broad areas:

• Schedule 1 strengthens Director ID reporting and enforcement.
• Schedule 2 expands ASIC's powers to administer, correct and protect registry information.
• Schedule 3 unwinds much of the legislative architecture for the discontinued Modernising Business Registers program.

At present, companies are not generally required to provide Director IDs to ASIC as part of standard company reporting. From 1 July 2027, companies and other registrable bodies will be required to provide Director IDs to ASIC as part of specified company registration and director information reporting processes. 

Companies and other registrable bodies will be required to provide Director IDs to ASIC at key points, including:

• when applying to register a new company or registrable body;
• when notifying ASIC of the appointment of a director or alternate director;
• when notifying ASIC of a change to a director's personal details; and
• when notifying ASIC that a person has ceased to be a director.

The Regulations amend the Corporations Regulations 2001 so that Director ID and electronic address information are incorporated into annual extracts and returns of particulars. They also prescribe information concerning whether directors and alternate directors have Director IDs for the purposes of ASIC's registry functions and publication powers. The reforms therefore provide a framework for ASIC to publish Director ID information, subject to the applicable legislative requirements governing disclosure and access to registry information.

The amendments commence with the relevant Director ID reporting and alternative address provisions of the Act. 

A director who already has a Director ID must give it to the company within seven days after their initial appointment, unless the director has previously provided that information to the company. The Act does not create any further general exception to that notification requirement for a director who already has a Director ID.

Under the existing Director ID regime, a person who intends to become a director is generally required to apply for a Director ID before appointment. If a person is appointed before a Director ID is issued, the Act provides the following notification grace periods:

• the director must give the Director ID to the company within seven days after the Registrar issues it; 
• where a director is appointed before their Director ID has been issued, the company must lodge the Director ID with ASIC (on 1 July 2027, this will become subject to a period of the being lodged by the 14th day after it is issued); and
• the company must lodge the Director ID with ASIC by the end of the 14th day after it is issued.

The better approach is to collect and verify the Director ID before appointment wherever practicable, rather than relying on the grace periods. These timeframes should be built into director appointment checklists. The usual path is to make prospective directors aware of these requirements and they can acquire their Director ID (or DIN) themselves (as the director is to verify their own identity).

The Act also deals with existing appointments. From 1 July 2027, if a current director or alternate director's Director ID has not already been lodged with ASIC, a company must lodge it before the earlier of:

• the end of the 28-day period applying to the company's next response to an extract of particulars; and
• the end of the 28-day period applying to the company's next notification of a change to that person's personal details.

A separate transitional rule applies to registered bodies that are bodies corporate. They must lodge an existing director's Director ID before the earlier of either 12 months after 1 July 2027 or the end of the one-month period applying to the next change in that director's personal details.

Companies should not wait for the first post-commencement annual review. A pre-commencement audit will reduce the risk of missing a transitional deadline or discovering that records are incomplete when another ASIC notification is required.

The Act reinforces that Director ID obligations are regulatory requirements, not merely administrative preferences. Failure by a director or company to comply with relevant reporting obligations may attract an infringement notice or penalty under the existing enforcement framework, as amended.

ASIC may disqualify a person from managing corporations for up to three years if the person fails to apply for a Director ID (aka DIN) after being directed to do so by the Registrar. Before exercising that power, ASIC must give the person notice and an opportunity to be heard, and must consider whether disqualification is justified, including by reference to the person's conduct and the public interest.

The Explanatory Memorandum indicates that the power is directed to more serious conduct, such as a person wilfully refusing to apply or deliberately frustrating the application process. The Act also removes the Registrar's infringement notice power, clarifying the intended division of responsibility: the Registrar administers the Director ID regime and ASIC enforces it.

Deregistration for materially false or misleading information

ASIC has a new administrative ground to deregister a company where it has reason to believe that information given by or on behalf of the company, including information provided with its registration application, is materially false, misleading or deceptive or contains an omission that makes it materially misleading.

The power may also be used where a company appoints a person as a director, and that person does not confirm the appointment and identity when ASIC requires confirmation. The new deregistration ground applies to information given to ASIC before, on or after the commencement of the relevant Schedule 2 amendments on 1 July 2026, although any deregistration can operate only prospectively. A company affected by a decision under this new ground may seek merits review in the Administrative Review Tribunal.

This makes the quality of registry data a more immediate governance issue. Companies should not rely only on the annual review statement to identify and correct inaccurate information.

More control over how registry information is lodged and maintained

The Act gives ASIC broader flexibility to approve the manner and format in which documents and information are lodged or provided. This can include electronic methods, online portals and structured data requirements. If the applicable manner and format requirements are not met, the material may not be treated as lodged or given to ASIC.

ASIC can also correct errors or omissions in registers it administers and publish additional registry information where it reasonably believes the benefits outweigh the risks and disclosure is in the public interest.

Conversely, ASIC can restrict access to classes of information or documents where the benefits of restriction outweigh the risks. That power may be used to address privacy, safety, commercial sensitivity and the risk of outdated, incomplete or misleading registry information. Restrictions must be imposed on a class basis by a legislative instrument.

The Act modernises the way ASIC records addresses and communicates with companies and officers.

An officer will be able to nominate an alternative Australian address for service without first satisfying the current restricted eligibility criteria. The officer must still provide their usual residential address to the company and ASIC. Where the officer uses an alternative address, the usual residential address will generally not be publicly accessible through specified company registration, officer notification, extract of particulars and return of particulars documents. ASIC retains separate statutory powers to disclose registry information in appropriate circumstances.

Companies will also be required to provide an electronic address for the company and for each incoming director or company secretary. A company must notify ASIC of a change to its electronic address within 28 days. ASIC may send communications electronically and, in specified circumstances, may use an electronic address it reasonably believes is current.

The alternative address provisions commence on the earlier of a day fixed by Proclamation and 1 July 2027. As at 9 September 2026, the commencement table for the Act does not record an earlier proclaimed date. The electronic address reporting requirements commence on 1 July 2027.

Schedule 3 gives effect to the decision not to proceed with the centralised Modernising Business Registers model. ASIC remains responsible for the registers it administered before that program, while the Commonwealth Registers Act framework continues to support Director IDs.

For businesses, the significance is practical rather than merely structural. The Government is modernising the existing ASIC-administered framework rather than replacing it with the previously proposed centralised platform.

Although the core Director ID reporting and electronic address changes do not commence until 1 July 2027, companies can prepare now by:

• Update director onboarding: Make Director ID collection and verification a required step, with responsibility allocated for the seven-day and 14-day fallback timeframes.
• Update director appointment documentation: Include Director ID collection/verification in board appointment packs, consent-to-act processes and company secretarial checklists.
• Audit existing director records: Confirm that Director IDs are available for every current director and alternate director, and resolve discrepancies before transitional reporting begins.
• Review ASIC records: Check director details, registered office information and other corporate particulars for completeness and accuracy.
• Map lodgement responsibilities: Document who prepares, reviews and submits ASIC notifications, and ensure internal processes can adapt to ASIC-approved digital formats.
• Establish monitored electronic addresses: Use addresses that will remain active, are securely managed and are monitored when key personnel are absent or leave the business.
• Review privacy and service address choices: Consider whether officers wish to use an alternative address for service and ensure residential addresses remain properly recorded with the company and ASIC.

The direction of the reforms is clear. Director IDs will become embedded in routine corporate reporting, while ASIC will have stronger tools to correct, disclose, restrict and act on registry information. Companies that treat registry data as part of their ongoing governance framework, rather than an annual administrative task, will be best placed to manage the transition.

For tailored advice on preparing your business for these reforms, please contact our Corporate & Commercial team.

• Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Act 2026 (Cth) sch 1 pts 1-5, sch 2 pts 1-8, sch 3.
• Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Regulations 2026 (Cth) sch 1.
• Explanatory Memorandum, Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Bill 2026 (Cth) 3-10 [1.1]-[1.45], 11-29 [2.1]-[2.115], 31-44 [3.1]-[3.65].
• Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ss 117, 205B-205D, 206FA, 352, 601AB, 1272A-1272E, 1274, 1274AB-1274AC, 1276, 1741-1742 as amended by the Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Act 2026 (Cth).