ASIC Corporations (Financial Services Guide, General Advice Warning and Advertising Related Relief) Instrument 2025/234

This instrument is aimed at parts of the financial services sector that deal with general advice, Financial Services Guides and related disclosure mechanics under Part 7.7 of the Corporations Act 2001. The main groups in scope are AFS licensees, authorised representatives of AFS licensees, issuers of financial products, experts preparing reports included in another person’s document, and intermediaries arranging issue of a financial product under an intermediary authorisation.

It is especially relevant if your business gives general advice in advertising, gives general advice orally to retail clients, prepares expert reports that sit inside another entity’s disclosure document, or distributes products through an intermediary structure where the FSG is presented with a Product Disclosure Statement. If your business does not provide financial services, or only deals with activities outside these specific settings, this instrument may have little or no practical effect.

The instrument does two things. First, it gives exemptions from some Corporations Act requirements in tightly defined situations. Secondly, it modifies how some Part 7.7 provisions apply.

The exemptions cover three main areas. Section 5 gives advertising-related relief. Section 6 gives relief for oral general advice warnings. Section 7 gives FSG relief for experts’ reports and for arrangers acting under intermediary authorisations.

The modifications in Part 3 are also important. Section 8 changes how subsection 941C(5A) applies so that the website publication rule is framed around financial product advice, or dealing in a financial product for the purpose of implementing financial product advice previously given by the providing entity. Section 9 modifies subsection 949A(4) as it applies to authorised representatives so that it refers to subsection 949A(2) and to general advice rather than personal advice.

These changes are technical, but they matter because businesses often build scripts, templates, website disclosures and document packs around the exact wording of the Act. This instrument changes the compliance position only for the situations it names, and only on the terms it sets out.

You should check this instrument whenever one of the following events occurs in your business.

Each trigger point should prompt a document and process check. The relief is not general permission to simplify disclosures. It only applies if the exact conditions in the instrument are satisfied for that activity.

Section 5 contains two separate advertising rules.

First, an issuer of a financial product that provides a financial service consisting of general advice in the form of an advertisement of the financial product does not have to comply with subsection 911A(1) of the Act in relation to that advice, provided the advertisement indicates that a person should consider whether or not the product is appropriate for the person.

Secondly, a financial services licensee that provides general advice in the form of an advertisement of securities to be issued by the licensee does not have to comply with subsection 941A(1) or 949A(2) of the Act in relation to that advice, again provided the advertisement indicates that a person should consider whether or not the securities are appropriate for the person.

In practice, this means the relief is tied to the content of the advertisement itself. The advertisement must indicate that the person should consider appropriateness. If that indication is missing, unclear or not used in the relevant advertisement, the instrument does not give the relief. Businesses should also note that the two limbs are not identical. One concerns an issuer of a financial product and relief from subsection 911A(1) in relation to the advice. The other concerns a licensee advertising securities it will issue and relief from subsection 941A(1) and subsection 949A(2).

Section 6 deals with oral general advice to a retail client. It applies to a financial services licensee and to an authorised representative of a financial services licensee. Under this section, the providing entity does not have to comply with subsection 949A(2) in relation to the provision of general advice orally to a person as a retail client if, at the time of providing the advice, the providing entity orally warns the client of two things.

Those two things are that the advice is general advice, and that the advice may not be appropriate for the client. Timing matters. The warning must be given orally at the time the advice is provided. This is not a general permission to move the warning elsewhere in the customer journey.

This section is limited to general advice. If your staff are giving personal advice, or if the interaction is not oral, you should not assume this relief applies. Businesses using call scripts, recorded messages or adviser prompts should make sure the wording used in practice covers both required elements.

Section 7(1) to (3) gives specific FSG relief where a financial services licensee or authorised representative, acting in the capacity of an expert, provides general advice in a report or statement that is included in a document prepared by or on behalf of another person. The report or statement is the expert’s report. The other document is the principal document. The other person is the principal.

The relief is limited. It only removes compliance with subsection 941A(1) or 941B(1) to the extent those provisions would otherwise require the FSG to be given in the way required by section 940C, at the time required by subsection 941D(1), with a title in accordance with subsection 942A(1), and not to be combined with a Product Disclosure Statement contrary to subsection 942DA(3).

The conditions are detailed and all of them must be met. The providing expert must not be the person who prepared the principal document, and must not be an employee or director of the principal. The expert’s report must form a separate and clearly identifiable part of the principal document. At or near the front of the report, there must be an expression making it clear that the report is both an expert’s report and a Financial Services Guide. In addition, the Financial Services Guide must form a separate and clearly identifiable part of the expert’s report.

The principal document must also prominently disclose the respective names of the providing expert, the principal, and the person for whom or on whose behalf the expert’s report was prepared. It must prominently disclose the nature of the relationship between the providing expert and the principal, and between the providing expert and the person for whom or on whose behalf the report was prepared. It must also prominently disclose the extent of the liability of the providing expert in relation to the principal document and the expert’s report.

This is a narrow structural relief. It does not remove the need to include the required information. It changes how and where the FSG can be presented if the report sits inside another person’s document and the instrument’s conditions are met.

Section 7(4) and (5) deals with arrangers acting under intermediary authorisations. It applies where a financial services licensee or authorised representative provides a financial service consisting of arranging for the issue of a financial product by a product provider under an intermediary authorisation.

Again, the relief is limited. It removes compliance with subsection 941A(1) or 941B(1) only to the extent those provisions would otherwise require the FSG to be given in the way required by section 940C, at the time required by subsection 941D(1), with a title in accordance with subsection 942A(1), and not to be combined with a Product Disclosure Statement contrary to subsection 942DA(3).

The conditions are specific. The FSG must form a separate and clearly identifiable part of the Product Disclosure Statement for the financial product. At or near the front of that part of the PDS, it must bear the expression “Financial Services Guide”. The FSG must also prominently disclose the respective names of the intermediary, the product provider, and, where the intermediary is an authorised representative, the financial services licensee on whose behalf the intermediary acts in relation to the intermediary authorisation.

The FSG must also prominently disclose the nature of the relationship between the product provider and the intermediary, and, where the intermediary is an authorised representative, the relationship between the product provider and the licensee on whose behalf the intermediary acts. Businesses using white label, distribution or referral-style issue arrangements should be careful here. The relief depends on the arrangement fitting the intermediary authorisation model and on the document structure and disclosures matching the instrument.

Part 3 contains two declarations that modify how Part 7.7 applies.

Section 8 changes subsection 941C(5A) so that paragraph (a) is replaced. Under the modified rule, the relevant financial service provided to the client is either financial product advice, or dealing in a financial product for the purpose of implementing financial product advice that was provided to the client by the providing entity. Businesses that rely on website publication of FSG information should check their current process against this modified wording rather than assuming the unmodified Act text applies.

Section 9 changes how subsection 949A(4) applies to an authorised representative of a financial services licensee. It substitutes references so that the subsection refers to subsection 949A(2), and in paragraph (a) it replaces “personal advice” with “general advice”. This is a technical amendment, but it matters for businesses that use standard form warnings, compliance manuals or disclosure scripts for authorised representatives.

If your business wants to rely on this instrument, the practical task is to map each relief provision to the exact activity being carried out and then confirm every condition is met. The instrument does not provide a broad safe harbour for all general advice communications.

If any condition is missing, the relief may not be available. Businesses should therefore treat this instrument as a conditional compliance pathway rather than a substitute for checking the underlying Act requirements.

The instrument was made on 10 September 2025 and registered on 11 September 2025. It commenced on the day after registration, which means it started on 12 September 2025 if read strictly from the commencement clause. The register entry also shows 11 September 2025 as the registration date. Businesses should confirm the registered commencement position from the current Federal Register entry when applying the instrument to conduct around the start date.

The instrument is repealed at the start of 1 October 2030. If your business builds long-term templates, scripts or disclosure packs around this relief, make sure they are reviewed before that repeal date.

This page summarises the ASIC Corporations (Financial Services Guide, General Advice Warning and Advertising Related Relief) Instrument 2025/234 as published on the Federal Register of Legislation. It should be read together with the Corporations Act 2001 provisions referred to in the instrument, including sections and subsections mentioned in Parts 2 and 3.

Because this summary is based on the instrument text alone, businesses should check the latest registered version and any later ASIC material before relying on it for operational settings, scripts or disclosure documents.