Legislation amending the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) Act has been passed, enabling opt-in renewal notices to be extended to 60 days.

The extended time period also applies to fee disclosure statements.

Other amendments passed relate to the treatment of basic insurance products with other simple financial products; expanding the topics covered by training and education; and giving the Federal Government limited regulation powers to wind back exemptions to conflicted remuneration.

Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer says the changes deal with “unintended consequences that have arisen since the laws were introduced”.

“The Government is committed to providing certainty and reducing complexity for business and financial advisers, while maintaining the quality of advice for consumers who access financial advice,” she said.

Addressing the House of Representatives when the changes were introduced, Shadow Minister for Financial Services Jim Chalmers said the amendments “represent the triumph of Labor and consumers over the Government”.

“We prevented some very bad legislation from passing and all that is left to consider is some tidying-up of the original package,” he said. “We have cemented the most important reforms to financial services in a generation and have protected consumers in the process.”

The Government tried to introduce more sweeping changes to the FOFA Act in 2014, but these were defeated.

“Importantly, this amended legislation maintains the fundamental consumer protections introduced by Labor, proudly, in our original FOFA package,” Mr Chalmers said.

“The Government should get back in their box. They should not seek to make further changes to the FOFA package.”

Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) CEO Brad Fox says while the changes are welcome, his group still wants a longer timeframe for op-in notices.

“The AFA will continue to advocate for a more practical timeframe for customers to return their opt-in notices.”