Transactions on the Personal Property Securities Register will be subject to the payment of fees.

The Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department has released a Cost Recovery Impact Statement containing recommendations for the cost recovery arrangements for the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) as well as a response to submissions on its proposed fees.The actual fees are expected to be announced in May.

The proposed fees include:

• Register Financing Statement for an undefined duration: $130
• Register Financing Statement where duration is 7 years or less: $7.40
• Register Financing Statement where duration is more than 7 years but less than 25 years: $37.00
• Search the online register by reference to the grantor’s details, by serial number or by registration number:$3.70
• Searches through the contact centre by phone will be charged at the same price as an online search. Searches through the contact centre by mail, email or fax, and requiring a printed search result will attract a higher fee of $29.50.

It is intended that the fees will be GST free.

Where a search is undertaken and returns multiple registrations, the searcher will be able to drill down into each registration at no additional cost.

It is intended that a user may re-access the results of a previous search, including drill down capability, during the defined ” search access period‟, which is currently set at 24 hours.

The fee for a search includes the provision of a search certificate by mail or email. The fee of $29.50 is only payable where a copy of the full search results is required is required in paper or on DVD.

Discharge of a security interest will be free.

The lower fee for shorter duration registrations is intended as an incentive for secured parties to maintain their registrations.

The higher fee for registration with a not stated end time is considered to represent an effective disincentive for long dated or unstated registrations.

It is proposed that a report of registrations to expire within a defined period for a secured party group will be available for Account Holders to generate within the PPS register. The report will be included as part of account user administration functionality.

A copy of the financing statement is included in the fee for a registration. A separate fee is charged for the issue of a duplicate copy of the original statement.

There is difference between a minor amendment (costing $3.70) and an amendment (costing the same as a new registration). A minor amendment is one where the change of details does not impact on the registration end date, result in an additional grantor, or add a new type of collateral.

A change to collateral class will represents a new registration under the PPS Act, and will be considered an amendment, not a minor amendment.

The first fee review will take place within 12 months of the commencement of operations.

A fee will not apply when registering a transitional security interest on the Register.