4 August 2020

The Law Council of Australia and the Association of Corporate Counsel are assisting businesses to understand their new commitments under the Modern Slavery Act with a new fact sheet to help navigate reporting requirements.

The Act, which came into force at the start of 2019, requires Australian-based entities with more than $100 million in revenue to report the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains to the Minister for Home Affairs.

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Together the Law Council and Association of Corporate Counsel have produced a fact sheet for businesses navigating the reporting requirements. Reporting on modern slavery risks is increasingly seen as a good governance practice.

The Modern Slavery Act fact sheet can be found online here. A modern slavery statement must be submitted within six months after the end of the reporting entity's financial year. The reporting period is the entity's first full financial year that commences after 1 January 2019.

However, reporting entities due to submit their first modern slavery statement in 2020 have been granted an additional three months on top of the normal six months, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.