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Regulation

Regulation
NY sues over 'forever chemicals' pollution
The state of New York has sued some of the world's largest chemical manufacturers for allegedly exposing consumers to toxic "forever chemicals" for decades while concealing the risks and contributing to widespread environmental contamination. New York Attorney General Letitia James filed the lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court, naming 3M (NYSE: MMM), DuPont de Nemours (NYSE: DD), Chemours (NYSE: CC), Corteva (NYSE: CTVA) and EIDP Inc (NYSE: CTA-A) as the companies that manufactured, marketed and sold products containing toxic polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). This was despite long-standing evidence that the chemicals posed serious health and environmental dangers. “Big companies like 3M and DuPont knowingly sold toxic products that threatened New Yorkers’ health and polluted our environment for decades. It’s time for them to pay for the damage they caused,” James said in a press release. “For far too long, our communities have unfairly shouldered the costs of protecting people from these toxic forever chemicals and cleaning up their contamination. I look forward to ensuring the companies responsible for PFAS pollution are held accountable.” James alleges the companies knew for decades that PFAS were toxic,
Regulation
Bosch pays US$36m to settle Chinese shipments breach
Robert Bosch Gmbh has agreed to pay more than US$36 million (A$51.3 million) to settle allegations it violated United States export controls by shipping products and software to Chinese telecommunications company Huawei without approval. The settlement resolved allegations that the German company exported $72.4 million of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensor products and automotive software to Huawei and its affiliates between September 2020 and September 2024. The deal was announced by the United States Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), which is responsible for administering and enforcing export controls, regulating sensitive technologies and protecting U.S. national security interests through trade rules. “Bosch had several opportunities to avoid these violations had they exercised the increased vigilance BIS has repeatedly said it expects of companies whose transactions are governed by the EAR (Export Administration Regulations),” Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement David Peters said in a press release. “Today’s action should serve as a warning to embrace compliance and as an example of the benefits of voluntary self-disclosure.” The privately-owned multinat
Regulation
SEC unveils reforms to 'make IPOS great again'
The United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced an overhaul of regulations governing how ‌companies offer shares and report information to investors in a bid to encourage more of them to list on U.S. stock exchanges. In one of the most ambitious reforms of U.S. capital markets in decades, the SEC said the changes would expand the number of companies able to issue shares faster and less expensively and loosen public disclosure requirements. The markets and corporate regulator said it planned to amend its registered offerings rules and forms to increase efficiency, flexibility and cost savings for public companies, simplify reporting and align disclosure obligations with company size and maturity. The first of two proposals would lift the threshold at which companies become ‘large accelerated filers’ from US$700 million (A$976 million) to $2 billion, based on the value of shares available for sale and trading by the public. Five years after they list on the stock market, all such companies would avoid certain requirements for reporting, disclosure and independent audits. The SEC also proposed expanding the number of companies able to issue ‘shelf offerings’ to pre-register securities and sel
Regulation
Scaling up the fire safety industry: Chris McDonald
Chris McDonald has taken his expertise in scaling up businesses in the tech sphere to the world of fire safety at Watch Smoke Alarms. McDonald worked in the tech space at companies such as Yahoo, Indeed.com and News Corporation. He tells Azzet that his senior roles at these companies helped shape his skills in operational scaling and market expansion as he moved from “commercial industries” to what he describes as a “human industry”. “It really comes down to the philosophies that those companies have when it comes to taking products to market,” McDonald tells Azzet. “Both industries are about impact, where I've worked before, there's always been a very clear purpose with the products we've got.”Compliance-led growthThe Australian fire market system was valued at around A$1.4 billion in 2025 and is only expected to grow. McDonald, who has been the general manager of Watch Smoke Alarms for around a year, says the company’s growth rate year-over-year is over 100%, despite being one of the smaller players in the industry. “We just have to keep bringing talent into our business, ensure that we're focused on the right stuff,” he says. “We’re also being really thoughtful about how we generate investment.” Growth i
Regulation
USPS requests temporary price hike to mitigate fuel prices
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has requested approval for a temporary 8% price hike for priority mail and package deliveries as transport prices continue to soar. If approved by the , the price hike would last from 26 April until 17 January 2027, according to USPS. “While this price increase is a time-limited adjustment, it will provide a necessary bridge to a permanent mechanism to reflect market conditions in prices for competitive products that can support the Postal Service’s ability to achieve the universal service obligation in a more financially sustainable manner going forward,” USPS said in a statement. The surcharge would apply to postage on Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select products. First-class stamps and other mail services would not be affected. This comes as oil prices have jumped more than 40% since Iran started the war on 28 February after strikes from the U.S. and Israel on the Middle Eastern country. Other major package shippers, like FedEx and UPS, have imposed fuel surcharges on deliveries, and these have only risen since the start of the war. “We have steadfastly avoided surcharges and this charge is less than one-third of what our com

Regulation
Jefferies faces SEC probe over First Brands ties
The relationship between Jefferies and First Brands is drawing fresh scrutiny, with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) beginning an early-stage inquiry into the investment bank’s dealings with the now-bankrupt car parts group. According to people familiar with the matter, the regulator has asked Jefferies for details on whether investors in its Point Bonita fund were given a clear picture of their exposures to First Brands. The auto parts business entered bankruptcy in September with around $12 billion in debt, undermining confidence in parts of the private credit market. The U.S. securities watchdog is also examining the bank’s internal controls and whether any conflicts may have arisen across different areas of its business. At this stage, the watchdog has not suggested any wrongdoing, and it often opens civil reviews simply to gather information. As usual, the agency said it would not comment on whether an investigation exists, and Jefferies likewise declined to comment. Jefferies had long been involved with First Brands, advising the company, arranging invoice financing and helping to place large loans with outside investors. The Point Bonita fund held around $715 million in rec
Regulation
APRA introduces first risky home loan cap
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has fired a shot across the bows of the nation’s banks in an effort to prevent risky lending in the residential property market. The nation’s banking regulator said it would impose new limits on high debt-to-income (DTI) home lending to pre-emptively contain a build-up of “housing-related vulnerabilities” in the financial system. This is the first time APRA has formally limited the share of loans above a specific debt-to-income threshold, previously having monitored them only. From 1 February 2026, authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) will be allowed to lend up to 20% of their new mortgage lending for owner-occupier and investor lending at a debt of six times income or more, but this excludes bridging loans for owner-occupiers and loans for the purchase or construction of new dwellings. APRA said that although overall bank lending standards remained sound, it had seen a pick-up in riskier forms of lending in recent months as interest rates fell, housing credit growth passed its longer-term average, and housing prices continued to rise. It said that combined with a resilient labour market, these trends suggested a shift in the financial risk cycle and a p
Regulation
Australia unveils AI safety watchdog for frontier tech
The Australian federal government has formally stepped into the algorithmic ring, greenlighting the Australian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute (AISI) to reign in the "wild west" of frontier AI model development. Slated to go live in early 2026, the new technocratic overseer will act as the nation's primary circuit-breaker for generative AI. It's tasked with stress-testing high-risk large language models (LLMs) and steering policy on synthetic media deepfakes, alignment drift, and automated decision-making. Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic confirmed the institute would act as a "central hub" for the government's safe and responsible AI agenda - a program already bolstered by a $39.9 million funding package allocated in the 2024-25 Federal Budget. "Australians understand the value of artificial intelligence, but they want to see the risks identified and tackled," Husic said in a statement. “We want safe and responsible thinking baked in early as AI is designed, developed and deployed.”The "playbook" and the perilThe regulatory push isn't happening in a vacuum. Alongside the watchdog, Canberra has dropped a tactical guide for corporate Australia: the new Guidance for AI Adoption, which condenses prev
Regulation
New AI playbook arrives amid mounting lawsuits
The Australian federal government has released fresh guidance on AI adoption in the workplace, giving businesses a clearer roadmap for responsible implementation at a time when companies globally are facing a wave of litigation over algorithmic hiring tools. But will they work? The National AI Centre's Guidance for AI Adoption condenses the previous 10 voluntary guardrails into six essential practices, replacing the 2024 Voluntary AI Safety Standard with a dual-structured approach - foundational advice for companies starting out and detailed implementation practices for mature operators. “To help businesses put responsible AI into action, the guidance provides practical tools and templates, such as an AI policy template and an AI register template,” says the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. The framework responds to findings from the 2025 Responsible AI Index, which revealed a persistent gap between organisations that agree with ethical AI standards and those actually putting them into practice, with smaller businesses struggling particularly with resource-intensive governance requirements, according to analysis by Allens.Adoption patchy despite the hypeA Reserve Bank survey released this week found enter