The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) should give priority to the release of the MySuper standard.

The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) has called on APRA to commit to releasing the standard by mid-2012.

In a submission to the APRA discussion paper on prudential standards for superannuation, AIST said giving priority to the standard would facilitate a smooth and orderly registration of MySuper products ahead of the 2013 start date.

"With so many of the super reforms now before parliamentary committees, the timeline to implement MySuper has been crunched," AIST chief executive Fiona Reynolds said.

"It's therefore absolutely critical that funds have an understanding of the licensing authorisation requirements for MySuper as soon as possible."

Under the proposed legislation, APRA will authorise responsible entities (RE) to offer MySuper products, but the standards that an RE has to meet in order to get a licence are still unclear.

The institute made a series of other recommendation in its submission, including the development of a standard for performance fees, which could assist funds in fee negotiations.

It also asked for clarification of the definition of independent director, in light of the equal representation requirement currently used for industry super funds.

"There is confusion about the concept of independence as it applies to super fund governance," Reynolds said.

"AIST supports a system where trustee directors are independent of the funds management and any material service providers.

"In this context, directors on equal representation boards meet the independence test.

"If APRA wants to encourage more directors on boards who are not aligned to sponsoring organisations, such as employer bodies and unions, then that is a separate issue."