Introduction

In the last 10 years, there has been a dramatic upsurge in Chinese investors’ interests in acquiring assets in Australia, notably in the areas of mining and resources, real estate and food and agricultural products. This is in part driven by the strategic needs of the Chinese government, the appreciation of RMB and in the last 5 years, devaluation of the Australian dollar, the relatively welcoming attitude of the Australian government to Chinese investors, the quality of Australia assets and the large influx of Chinese migrants into the lucky country. However, while the Australian government generally welcomes foreign investments, this does not mean acquisition of Australian assets by foreign entities is entirely free of restrictions, especially strategic assets with national security concerns and residential property where there has been a huge political outcry to tighten the control so as to protect the interests of local Australians. The result is a substantial revision to Australia’s Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975, which is one of the most important pieces of legislation governing foreign persons’ acquisition of Australian assets.

The purpose of this series of articles is to provide a brief introduction to Australia’s foreign investment regulatory regime in relation to different classes of assets. Owing to the broad scope of this topic and the complexity and variety of legal issues involved, it will be divided into several parts and this article is Part 1, which will discuss the regulatory body and the legislation generally pertaining to foreign investment regulation, and the regulation of investment in residential properties.

Regulatory Body and Legislation

The primary body responsible for regulating foreign investments in Australia is the Foreign Investment Review Board (“FIRB”). FIRB is a non-statutory body established in 1976 and its role is only advisory, which is to advise the Treasurer and the Government on Australia’s foreign investment policy and its administration. Responsibility for making decisions on the policy and proposals rests with the Treasurer.

Australia’s foreign investment regulatory regime is mostly found in the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (“the Act”), among other subsidiary legislation. The Act is a commonwealth legislation which means it applies across the whole of Australia instead of a particular state. It has been subject to a substantial overhaul and rewrite in December 2015 with emphasis on enhancing compliance and enforcement.

Foreign Persons

As the restrictions under the Act apply only to Foreign Persons acquiring Australian assets, it is useful to understand how this important term is defined thereunder. Under the Act, a Foreign Person is:-

(a)  an individual not ordinarily resident in Australia; or

(b) a corporation in which an individual not ordinarily resident in Australia, a foreign corporation or a foreign government holds a substantial interest; or

(c)   a corporation in which 2 or more persons, each of whom is an individual not ordinarily resident in Australia, a foreign corporation or a foreign government, hold an aggregate substantial interest; or

(d)   the trustee of a trust in which an individual not ordinarily resident in Australia, a foreign corporation or a foreign government holds a substantial interest; or

(e)  the trustee of a trust in which 2 or more persons, each of whom is an individual not ordinarily resident in Australia, a foreign corporation or a foreign government, hold an aggregate substantial interest; or

(f)   a foreign government

In certain circumstances, an associate of a foreign person may be taken to be a foreign person even if the associate is not a foreign person.

An important concept arising out of the definition of “Foreign Person” is “ordinary residence”. Obviously, this concept applies to a natural person rather than a legal person. Under s.5 of the Act, an individual who is not an Australian citizen is ordinarily resident in Australia at a particular time if

(a) the individual has actually been in Australia during 200 or more days in the period of 12 months immediately preceding that time; and

(b) at that time:

(i) the individual is in Australia and the individual’s continued presence in Australia is not subject to any limitation as to time imposed by law; or

(ii) the individual is not in Australia but, immediately before the individual’s most recent departure from Australia, the individual’s continued presence in Australia was not subject to any limitation as to time imposed by law.

It is therefore clear that as far as an individual or natural person is concerned a Foreign Person does not include an Australian citizen, but may include (1) even an Australian permanent resident if he has not been in Australian for more than 200 or more days in the last 12 months, and (2) persons holding temporary visas such as student visas, working visas etc. as these persons’ continued presence in Australia is subject to limitation as to time imposed by law.

Substantial interest, after the 2015 amendment to the Act, has been increased from 15% to 20%, so it is 20% now.

Residential Property

The restrictions under the Act vary from one class of assets to another. This is understandable as assets of national security concerns and assets affecting daily life of local Australians (such as residential property and food products) would naturally attract more stringent restrictions and closer scrutiny by the regulator.

New Dwellings

Foreign persons generally need to apply and receive foreign investment approval before purchasing new dwellings. However, applications to purchase new dwellings are usually approved without conditions.

According to the Act, a new dwelling is a dwelling that will be, is being, or has been built on residential land, has not been previously sold as a dwelling and has either:

1. Not been previously occupied; or

2. If the dwelling is contained in part of a development and the dwelling was sold by the developer of that development, it has not previously been occupied for more than 12 months in total.

New dwellings do not include established residential real estate that has been refurbished or renovated.

Strange enough, there is no definition of dwelling under the Act, but this word literally means a house, flat, or other place of residence.

Established Dwellings

Generally foreign persons are not allowed to purchase established dwellings.

Under the Act, an established dwelling is a dwelling on residential land that is not a new dwelling.

Temporary Residents

Temporary residents will normally be allowed to purchase only one established dwelling to live in as their residence in Australia, subject to the conditions that they:

1. Use the property as their principal place of residence in Australia;

2. Do not rent any part of the property, included ensuring that the property is vacant at settlement; and

3. Sell the property within three months from when it ceases to be their principal place of residence.

4. Temporary residents are not permitted to purchase established dwellings as investment properties, or rent out, or as holiday homes.

A temporary resident is an individual who:

• holds a temporary visa that permits them to remain in Australia for a continuous period of more than 12 months (regardless of how long remains on the visa); or

• is residing in Australia, has submitted an application for a permanent visa and holds a bridging visa which permits them to stay in Australia until that application has been finalised.

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引言

過去十年來，中國投資者對收購澳大利亞資產的興趣大增，特別是在採礦和資源，房地產，食品和農產品領域。這部分是和中國政府的戰略需求，人民幣升值和過去5年來澳元的貶值，澳大利亞政府對中國投資者採取的相對歡迎態度，澳大利亞資產質數和中國移民大量湧入這個幸運國家有關。然而，雖然澳大利亞政府普遍歡迎外國投資，但這並不意味著境外人仕收購澳大利亞資產完全沒有限制​​，特別是具有國家安全考慮的戰略資產以及住宅物業，後者近年更有強烈的政治呼聲要求加強監管以以保護當地澳大利亞人的利益。結果是澳大利亞政府對1975年制訂的“境外收購法”(Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act) 進行了大幅度的修改，境外收購法是澳大利亞針對境外人仕收購澳大利亞資產的最重要法規之一。

本系列文章的目的是扼要介紹澳大利亞政府就境外人仕收購不同類型澳大利亞資產的監管制度。由於這個題目範圍廣泛，涉及的法律問題複雜和多樣, 所以將分為幾個部分，本文是第一部分，將討論一般涉及監管外國投資的法規和監管機構，及對收購澳大利亞住宅物業的監管。

監管機構和法律

負責管理澳大利亞外商投資的主要機構是外商投資審查委員會（Foreign Investment Review Board,“FIRB”）。 FIRB是1976年成立的非法定機構，其作用只是諮詢，即向澳大利亞財政部長和政府提供有關澳大利亞外國投資政策及管理的意見。有關政策和建議的決策權在財長手裏。

澳大利亞的外國投資監管制度主要見於1975年訂立的“境外收購法”（(Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act , “該法例”）及其他若干附屬法例。該法案是一條聯邦法例，這意味著它適用於整個澳大利亞而不是特定的州份。該法例於2015年12月進行了大幅的修訂和重寫，重點是加強監管和執法。

境外人仕

由於該法例下的限制僅適用於收購澳大利亞資產的境外人仕，因此，我們必須首先了解何謂“境外人仕”。根據該法例，境外人仕為：

（a）非通常居於澳大利亞的個人; 或

（b）非通常居於澳大利亞的個人，外國法人或外國政府持有重大權益的法團; 或

（c）一家由2個或以上的人仕共同持有重大權益的法團，而該2個或以上的人仕均不是通常居住於澳大利亞境內的個人，或為境外法人或外國政府; 或

（d）一個信托基金(trust)的信托人(trustee) , 而非通常居於澳大利亞的個人, 境外法人或外國政府持有該信托基金的重大權益; 或

（e）一個信托基金的信托人,  而2個或以上的非通常居於澳大利亞的個人, 境外法人或外國政府共同持有該信托基金的重大權益; 或

（f）外國政府

在某些情況下，境外人仕的關繫人(associate) 也可被視為境外人仕，儘管該關繫人本身並非境外人仕。

“境外人仕”的定義本身產生的一個重要概念, 就是何謂“通常居住”? 究竟何為通常居住於澳大利亞? 很明顯, 這個概念只適用於自然人而非法人. 根據該法例第5條，非澳大利亞公民需滿足以下的條件方可被視為通常居住於澳大利亞:

（a）在過去的12個月內，該人已經在澳大利亞逗留超過200天; 而

（b）當時：

（i）他個人實際逗留在澳大利亞，而他持續逗留在澳大利亞並不受到法律規定的時間限制; 或

（ii）他個人並非逗留在澳大利亞，但在他最近離開澳大利亞之前，他在澳大利亞的持續逗留不             受法律規定的時間限制。

從以上的定義, 很顯然地，境外人仕不包括澳大利亞公民，但可能包括（1）甚至澳大利亞的永久居民，如果他沒有在過去12個月內在澳大利亞逗留超過200天;（2）持有臨時簽證者，如學生簽證，工作簽證等，因為這些人仕在澳大利亞的持續逗留，受到法律規定的時間限制。

至於何謂重大利益, 在2015年法令修正案之後，其定義已從15％提高到20％，即現在是20％了。

住宅物業

該法案的限制因資產類別而異。這是可以理解的，因為存在國家安全考慮的資產和影響當地澳大利亞人(如住宅物業和食品）日常生活的資產自然會受到監管機構更嚴格的限制和更密切的監督。

新住宅

境外人仕在購買新住宅之前一般需要申請和獲得外商投資審查委員會的批准, 但購買新住宅的申請通常都會無條件獲得批准的。

根據該法例, 新住宅的定義是一個將要，正在或已經建在住宅用地上的住宅，而之前沒有作為住宅出售過，而亦在：

1. 以前沒有被佔用過; 或

2. 如果住宅是開發項目的一部分並由開發商出售，它在超過12個月並沒有被佔用過。

新建住宅不包括經過翻新的已建成住宅。

奇怪的是，該法例沒有對”住宅”作出任何定義，但筆者認為這個字語應該給予一個字面的解釋就足夠了, 這即是說, 住宅就是一個房子，公寓或其他居住地方。

已建成住宅

一般來說境外人仕不得購買已建成住宅。

根據該法例, 已建成住宅是一個建築在住宅用地上的住宅，而它並非新住宅。

臨時居民

臨時居民通常只能在澳大利亞境內購買一個已建成住宅作為其住所，但須符合以下條件：

（a）須把該物業作為其在澳大利亞的主要居住地方;

（b）不能出租該物業，包括確保該物業在成交時是空置的;

（c）若該物業已非其在在澳大利亞的主要居住地方, 須在三個月內出售該物業; 及

（d）不得將該物業用作為投資物業，出租或度假屋。

根據該法例, 所謂臨時居民, 是指是一個人自然人, 而他：

1. 持有臨時簽證，而該臨時簽證允許他在澳大利亞逗留超過12個月（不管簽證下剩餘的逗留時間仍有多長）; 或

2. 正在澳大利亞居住，並已經提交了一份永久性簽證的申請，並持有一個允許他逗留在澳大利亞的過渡簽證，該過渡簽證淮許他逗留在澳大利亞,直到其永久性簽證的申請完成為止。

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