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Definitions

(definitions can also be found under section 5 of the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (FATA))

Definitions
Term	Definition
Acquisition	Includes an agreement to acquire, but does not include an acquisition: by will or by devolution by operation of law; or by way of enforcement of a security held solely for the purposes of a moneylending agreement. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Actionable	Is a term that means the Treasurer has the power to either object to or attach conditions to the proposal.
Agreement	Means any agreement, whether formal or informal and whether express or implied, other than a moneylending agreement. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Asset	Includes an interest in an asset. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Associates	See Section 6 of the FATA.
Australia	Includes the external Territories to which this Act extends. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Australian Corporation	Means a corporation of a kind referred to in Section 13(1)(a), (b) or (c) of the FATA.
Australian Rural Land	Means land situated in Australia that is used wholly and exclusively for carrying on a business of primary production. See Section 5 of the FATA and Rural Land.
Australian Urban Land	Means land situated in Australia that is not Australian rural land. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Australian Urban Land Corporation	A corporation is an Australian urban land corporation if: where the corporation is not a holding corporation - the value of its eligible land assets exceeds 50 per cent of the value of its total assets; or where the corporation is a holding corporation - the sum of the values of the eligible land assets of the corporation and of each of its subsidiaries exceeds 50 per cent of the sum of the values of the total assets of the corporation and of each of its subsidiaries. See Section 13C of the FATA.
Australian Urban Land Trust Estate	A trust estate is an Australian urban land trust estate if it is a unit trust estate and the value of so much of its total assets as consists of interests in Australian urban land exceeds 50 per cent of the value of its total assets. See Section 13D of the FATA.
Balance-Sheet	Includes a statement of assets and liabilities or any similar document that can be used to establish the financial position of the company.
Beneficiary	Includes any person designated as the recipient of funds or other property under a trust.
Buffer Zone	Is urban land which is incidental and essential to the ongoing business activities of industrial/mining companies. It is used to shield the surrounding environment from the industrial/mining activity.
Charitable Institution	Charitable institution means: any charitable, religious, scientific or educational institution (including an institution providing residential accommodation wholly or principally for full-time students attending an educational institution); any institution being, or carrying on, a hospital; and any institution the sole or principal purpose of which is to assist in the saving of life, or the prevention of loss or damage to property, whether at sea or otherwise; being an institution which is not carried on for the purpose of profit or gain to its individual members and which is not empowered to make any distribution, whether in money, property or otherwise, to its members. See Regulations 2 & 3(a) of the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Regulations 1989.
Commercial Real Estate	Non‑residential urban real estate in nature and zoning and can take the form of vacant land or developed real estate.
Compulsory Notification	Under s26 and s26A of the FATA, it is compulsory for a foreign interest to notify the Treasurer of a proposed acquisition of: a substantial interest in an Australian corporation (or increase of an existing substantial interest); or an interest in Australian urban land.
Constituent Document	Constituent document, in relation to a corporation, means the constitution of the corporation or any rules or other document constituting the corporation or governing its activities. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Controlling Interest	Is a substantial interest that the Treasurer has determined controls the policy of the corporation. See substantial interest and Section 9 of the FATA.
Crown Land	Is land owned by the Commonwealth, a State, Territory or local government or any corporation constituted for a public purpose by the Commonwealth or any State or Territory.
Developer	Developer refers to the person who owns the land on which the dwelling was/is being constructed. A builder is not necessarily a developer but can be employed by a developer to construct the dwelling(s).
Direct Investment	Is non-portfolio investment.
Director	Director includes any person occupying a position on the board of a corporation (and may not be a shareholder).
Discretionary Trusts	Is a type of trust whereby the trustee has the power, or discretion, to affect the distribution of the income or corpus (assets) of the trust such that one person can be paid all the income of the trust or receive all the corpus of the trust. The trustee usually has the authority to add or delete beneficiaries.
Divestiture Order	Is an order that forces the parties to sell/divest themselves of an interest in the subject assets or shares. See Sections 18(4), 19(4), 20(3), 21(3) & 21A(4) of the FATA.
Eligible Land Assets	Eligible land assets, in relation to a corporation, mean so much of the corporation's total assets as consists of interests in Australian urban land. See Section 13C(4) of the FATA.
Eligibility Criteria	The requirements under which an acquisition is eligible for approval under the policy. Approval is routinely granted for such acquisitions, subject to the relevant legally binding conditions (if applicable).
Established Dwelling	Any dwelling that is not a new dwelling. Also referred to as a second-hand dwelling.
Examinable	Examinable is a term applied to proposals that come within the scope of foreign investment policy and are screened under that policy.
Exempt Acquisition	Does not require notification or approval under the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975.
Exempt Business	Is defined under Section 13A(4) of the FATA and the value of which is determined under Section 13B.
Exempt Corporation	As defined under Section 13A(4) of the FATA.
FATA	Means the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975.
Final Order	Is an order that prohibits the proposed transaction, it amounts to a rejection of the foreign investment application and is issued where a proposal is inconsistent with the Government's foreign investment policy and not in the national interest. See Sections 21A(2), 18(2), 19(2), 20(2) & 21(2) of the FATA.
Financial Corporation	Is a corporation to which paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution is applicable. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Foreign Corporation	Is a corporation to which paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution is applicable or a corporation that is incorporated in an external Territory to which this Act does not extend. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Foreign Person	Foreign person means: a natural person not ordinarily resident in Australia; a corporation in which a natural person not ordinarily resident in Australia or a foreign corporation holds a controlling interest; a corporation in which 2 or more persons, each of whom is either a natural person not ordinarily resident in Australia or a foreign corporation, hold an aggregate controlling interest; the trustee of a trust estate in which a natural person not ordinarily resident in Australia or a foreign corporation holds a substantial interest; or the trustee of a trust estate in which 2 or more persons, each of whom is either a natural person not ordinarily resident in Australia or a foreign corporation, hold an aggregate substantial interest. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Initial Investment	Is the total expenditure expected to be associated with the proposal in its first 12 months of operations, this includes the value of any assets leased.
Interest In Australian Urban Land	Interest in Australian urban land has the meaning given by Section 12A of the FATA.
Integrated Tourism Resorts	See Integrated Tourism Resorts.
Interim Order	Is an order that extends the period of examination for up to a further 90 days after publication in the Commonwealth Gazette (that is, an application may take up to 130 days in total before a decision is reached). See Attachment Sections 22 & 25 of the FATA.
Joint Tenant	Means one who holds property jointly with another person or persons so that each owns an undivided share of the whole; on death, interest in this half share passes to the surviving co-owner or co-owners.
Land	Includes a building or other structure, or a part of a building or other structure. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Last Accounting Date	Last accounting date, in relation to a corporation, means the date of the expiration of the most recent period in relation to which a profit and loss account of the corporation has been laid before it in general meeting, including an account so laid before it before the commencement of this Act. See Section 13(3) of the FATA.
Lease	Is a contract whereby the owner of an asset (lessor) agrees to grant another party (the lessee) the exclusive right to enjoy or use that asset, usually for a given period of time (term).
Managed Investment Funds	Is a trust, which is used as a structure for a collective investment scheme. Monies from the public are pooled and the investment pool is invested in the authorised assets of the scheme. The beneficial interest in the assets is divided into units, which are issued to each investor.
Mineral Right	Is a right (however described) under a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory to recover minerals, other than a right to recover minerals for the purposes of prospecting or exploring for minerals. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Moneylending Agreement	Is an agreement entered into in good faith in the ordinary course of carrying on a business of lending money, not being an agreement dealing with any matter unrelated to the carrying on of that business. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Mortgage Interest	Is essentially an interest in Australian urban land or shares by a foreign person held through a mortgage (security) agreement over the land or shares. A person is said to have acquired the interest, if by default, they become the holder of urban land or shares etc through the enforcement of a security held over the land or shares.
New Dwelling	A dwelling acquired ‘off the plan’ (that is, before construction commences or during the construction phase) or after construction is complete, where the dwelling: has not previously been sold (that is, purchased from the developer); and has not been occupied for more than 12 months.
Notifiable	Is a term applied to proposals that are required to be submitted formally under the FATA.
Officer	Officer, in relation to a corporation, includes: a director, secretary or employee of the corporation; a receiver and manager of any part of the undertaking of the corporation appointed under a power contained in any instrument; or a liquidator of the corporation appointed in a voluntary winding up. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Offshore Takeover	Under the Act, a transaction is considered an offshore takeover (and hence may subject to separate monetary thresholds), where an offshore company that holds Australian assets or conducts a business in Australia is acquired by another foreign person, and the Australian assets or businesses of the target company are valued at less than 50 per cent of its total assets. If the Australian assets are valued at/above 50 per cent of total assets then the acquisition is not eligible for any separate offshore takeover thresholds and hence the general threshold applies.
Off The Plan	See new dwellings/off the plan.
Ordinarily Resident Non-Citizen	Includes a natural person who is not an Australian citizen and: the person has actually been in Australia during 200 or more days in the period of 12 months immediately preceding that time; and at that time, either: the person is in Australia and the person's continued presence in Australia is not subject to any limitation as to time imposed by law; or the person is not in Australia but, immediately before the person's most recent departure from Australia, the person's continued presence in Australia was not subject to any limitation as to time imposed by law. See Section 5A of the FATA.
Prescribed foreign investor	A US national or a US enterprise.
Prescribed foreign government investor	An entity that is not: (a) (i) a body politic of a foreign country; or (ii) a body politic of part of a foreign country; or (iii) a part of a body politic of a foreign country or part of a foreign country; and (b) either: (i) entity 1 is controlled by another entity (entity 2); or (ii) an entity (*entity 2*) holds an interest in entity 1 that is greater than 15%; and (c) entity 2 is: (i) a body politic of the United States of America; or (ii) a body politic of part of the United States of America; or (iii) a part of a body politic of the United States of America or part of the United States of America.
Prescribed sensitive sectors	For paragraph 17H (b) of the Act, the condition is that the business activity is any of the following: media; telecommunications; transport (including airports, port facilities, rail infrastructure, international and domestic aviation and shipping services provided within, or to or from, Australia); the supply of training or human resources, or the manufacture or supply of military goods or equipment or technology, to the Australian Defence Force or other defence forces; the manufacture or supply of goods, equipment or technology able to be used for a military purpose; the development, manufacture or supply of, or the provision of services relating to, encryption and security technologies and communications systems; the extraction of (or the holding of rights to extract) uranium or plutonium or the operation of nuclear facilities.
Principal place of residence	Principal place of residence means a person's sole place of residence, or if a person has more than one place of residence, their primary or main place of residence.
Primary Production	Has the same meaning as in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. See Rural Land.
Profit And Loss Account	Includes any statement of profits and losses or any similar document. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Redevelopment	Residential dwelling(s) to be demolished and new dwellings constructed. Does not include renovating or refurbishing existing residential dwellings.
Regulations	Means the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Regulations 1989.
Residential Real Estate	Means all Australian urban land other than commercial properties (that is, offices, factories, warehouses, hotels, restaurants, shops, recreation facilities etc). Acquisitions of 'hobby farms' and 'rural residential' blocks by foreign interests are included within the residential real estate category.
Retrospective Application	When an interest has already been acquired without prior approval in breach of the FATA. Such applications must not include a statutory notice.
Retrospective Approval	When no action is intended to be taken with respect to a breach of the FATA, as long as the foreign person complies with the standard conditions that would have been imposed if they had sought prior approval (if applicable).
Revocation Order	Is an order that revokes any previous order. See Section 23 of the FATA.
Rural Land	See Australian Rural Land.
Second-Hand Dwelling	Any dwelling that is not a new dwelling. Also referred to as an established dwelling.
Share	Share in relation to a corporation means a share in the share capital of the corporation, and: includes stock into which all or any of the share capital of the corporation has been converted; and except in section 11 or 26, includes an interest in such a share or in such stock. See Section 5 of the FATA.
Single block of vacant land	Land which is zoned to permit the construction of no more than one residential dwelling on the land.
Spouse	Spouse includes de facto partner (whether of the same sex or a different sex) – that is, although they may not be legally married, they have a relationship as a couple and live together on a genuine domestic basis (sections 22A and 22B of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901).
Statutory Notice	A prescribed form under Section 25, 26 or 26A of the FATA.
Statutory Period/Deadline	The statutory period for a decision on proposals where a statutory notice, that is, Section 26A, 26 or 25 notices under the FATA, has been lodged is 30 days from the date of receipt. However, if the statutory period expires on a weekend or a public holiday the deadline is taken to be the next working day. See Sections 25(2)(a), 26(2)(b)(i) & 26A(2)(b)(i) of the FATA.
Substantial Interest (Controlling Interest)	A substantial foreign interest (that is, a controlling interest) occurs when a single foreigner (and any associates) has 15 per cent or more of the ownership or several foreigners (and any associates) have 40 per cent or more in aggregate of the ownership of any corporation, business or trust. See Sections 9 & 9A of the FATA.
Takeover	the acquisition of shares by one company in another so as to gain a controlling interest. Takeovers of Australian companies are regulated by the Corporations Law.
Target Company	Means the company subject to a takeover or partial takeover.
Temporary Resident	A person is a temporary resident if they are living in Australia and: they hold a temporary (that is, non-permanent) visa which permits them to stay in Australia for a continuous period of more than 12 months; or they have submitted an application for permanent residency, and they hold a bridging visa which permits them to stay in Australia until that application has been finalised.
Tenant In Common	Means one who holds property in common with another person or persons so that each has a portion of interest in the whole property; on death, this portion of interest passes to an heir or devisee who then becomes a tenant in common with the surviving co‑owner or co-owners.
United States	The territory of the United States of America, including Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
Urban Land	See Australian Urban Land.
Urban Land Corporation	See Australian Urban Land Corporation.
Urban Land Trust Estate	See Australian Urban Land Trust Estate.
US branch	A branch (of an entity that is not itself a US enterprise) is a US enterprise if the branch: is located in the United States of America; and is carrying on business activities in the United States of America: (i) in a way other than being solely a representative office; and (ii) in a way other than being engaged solely in agency activities, including the sale of goods or services that cannot reasonably be regarded as undertaken in the United States of America; and (iii) by having its administration in the United States of America.
A US enterprise	A US enterprise is an entity constituted or organised under a law of the United States. The form in which the entity may be constituted or organised may be, but is not limited to a corporation, a trust, a partnership, a sole proprietorship, and a joint venture.
US investor	A US national or a US enterprise.
US national	A national of the United States of America, as defined in Title III of the Immigration and Nationality Act of the United States of America; or a permanent resident of the United States of America.