Mutual expectations

You can expect us to act in a professional, courteous and respectful manner and demonstrate integrity, fairness and impartiality in the conduct of our compliance activity.

When we use a cooperative approach, we will generally advise you that the information is not being requested under our notice or access powers and we are relying on your cooperation to provide the information or documents.

Responding to our requests in a narrow way is likely to delay and frustrate the completion of our compliance activity. If we believe you are behaving in this manner, we will usually discuss our concerns with you to establish the reasons for it. We may use our formal powers if this conduct persists.

What you can expect from us

We will generally:

• explain why we are requesting the information
• give you an opportunity to discuss the scope, appropriateness and relevance of the information request
• monitor our information requests to ensure they are answered on time
• take action if our requests are not complied with fully
• plan our information-gathering approach to meet our requirements and minimise disruption to you or your business to the extent possible
• have ongoing and constructive dialogue with you so that our information requests are clear, unambiguous and relate to the issues that concern us
• work with you to identify alternative documents where you have difficulties in providing the documents we have asked for
• ask you for the information first and only approach third parties if we need to
• manage the process according to agreed timeframes, protocols, contact and escalation points
• ensure we have sufficient evidence to make an informed decision
• give you reasons for our key decisions
• engage technical experts and information-gathering specialists at the earliest opportunity when needed
• provide you with adequate time to respond to our information requests
• advise you when we expect to reply to your response.

What we expect from you

We expect you to cooperate with us by:

• giving us complete information within agreed timeframes to ensure the efficient and timely progress of our compliance activities
• engaging in constructive dialogue with us
• providing access to your key decision makers and senior personnel, if required
• working with us to ensure that our compliance activity proceeds in an efficient and timely manner
• assisting us in developing plans, milestones and timeframes
• advising us as early as possible of any delays in providing information, and by taking all reasonable steps to address these.

We also expect you to give assurances that:

• your information searches have been carried out carefully and completely
• you have provided full details about what information you have, or when that information will be available
• the information we have requested will be given to us by the due date, or progressively, according to an arrangement with us
• your information will be given to us in user-friendly formats that allows us to fully analyse it
• you will advise us if you encounter difficulties in meeting our timeframes as soon as possible and provide us with your plan of action to manage any delays.