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1996
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH
OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
AMENDMENT BILL 1996
EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM
(Circulated
by authority of the Minister for Communications and the Arts, Senator the Hon
Richard Alston )
79292 Cat. No. 96 5308 2 ISBN 0644 482842
TELECOMMUNICATIONS AMENDMENT BILL
1996
OUTLINE
The Telecommunications Amendment Bill 1996 amends the Telecommunications
Act 1991:
(a) to extend the existing exemptions in paragraph 88(3)(d)
from prohibitions on disclosure of information under Part 5A to cover
information:
(i) resulting from a telephone call to any emergency call
number (not just the 000 emergency call number); and
(ii) which is passed
on to a person who operates an emergency call service, or to a contractor of
such a person (not just to the police, fire or ambulance emergency services)
(Items 1-7); and
(b) to empower AUSTEL to make written determinations
to collect charges which, because of the operation of the Telecommunications
(Numbering Fees) Amendment Bill 1996, would be imposed on carriers and service
providerss in respect of the allocation of numbers for the use in public
telecommunication services (Items 8-10).
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
The amendments in Items 1 - 7 are expected to have no impact on Commonwealth
expenditure or revenue.
The amendments in Items 8 -10, in conjunction
with the Telecommunications (Numbering Fees) Amendment Bill 1996, are expected
to derive in the vicinity of $30 million in revenue to the Commonwealth per
annum.
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 - Short title
When enacted, this Act would be
cited as the Telecommunications Amendment Act
1996.
Clause 2 - Commencement
The amendments in this
Act would commence on the 28th day after Royal Assent.
Clause 3 -
Schedule(s)
The amendments of the Telecommunications Act 1991
(the Telecommunications Act) are set out in items 1-10 of Schedule
1.
Schedule 1 - Amendments
Telecommunications Act
1991
Part 1- Emergency calls
Section 88 of the
Telecommunications Act protects personal customer information which comes to the
knowledge of a “prescribed person” (defined in subsection 88(5) as
an employee of a carrier, or a supplier of an eligible service, or an employee
of such a supplier). Subject to specified exemptions in subsections 88(3) and
(4), there is a prohibition on the disclosure by a prescribed person, or a
person who has been a prescribed person, of information relating to the contents
or substance of a communication carried by a carrier or supplier, or a
telecommunications service supplied to another person by a carrier or supplier
(subsections 88(1) and (2)).
Paragraph 88(3)(d) provides an exemption
from disclosure of relevant information obtained as a result of a telephone call
to the “emergency number 000” which is passed on to members of the
police force, fire service or an ambulance service to which the call was
connected.
The amendments in Part 1 of the Schedule are intended to
permit the disclosure of relevant information if:
• the call was
made to a number identified as an “emergency service number” in the
National Numbering Plan made by AUSTEL under section 239;
and
• the information is passed onto members of a police force or
service, fire services, ambulance services or an “emergency call
person” defined in new section 88A.
It is proposed to broaden the
exemption in existing paragraph 88(3)(d)(ii)), for calls made to the
“emergency number 000”, to cover calls made to any “emergency
service number” because AUSTEL in its national numbering plan is able to
set aside other numbers for emergency call purposes (for example, 112 is the
emergency number for mobile phone users).
It is proposed to broaden the
exemption in existing paragraph 88(3)(d)(ii), for information disclosed to a
police, fire or ambulance service, to cover situations where information is
provided to persons who provide an emergency call service to a police, fire or
ambulance service, or contractors who perform services for and on behalf of the
operator of such an emergency service.
Item 1 - Section 5
This item provides that “emergency service number” has the
meaning given by section 242C (see Item 7).
Items 2 - Paragraph 88(3)(d)
This item repeals paragraph 88(3)(d) of the Telecommunications Act,
consequential on the amendment made by Item 3.
Item 3 - After subsection 88(3)
This item inserts new section 88(3A) which broadens the existing exemption in
paragraph 88(3)(d) to cover information or documents resulting from a call to an
“emergency service number” which is disclosed to a member of the
police, fire or ambulance service or other emergency service specified in the
national numbering plan, or to an “emergency call person”, where the
information or documents consists of the name, telephone number, address,
location or matters raised by the call.
The expression “emergency
service number” is defined in proposed new subsection 242C (Item 7). The
expression “emergency call person” is defined in new section 88A
(Item 6).
Item 4 - Paragraph 88(4)(a)
Paragraph 88(4)(a) provides an exemption in relation to the use by a
person of information or a document relating to disclosure authorised by
existing subsection 88(3).
This item inserts a reference to proposed
subsection 88(3A) and is consequential on the insertion of that new subsection
by Item 3.
Item 5 - Subsection 88(5)
Subsection 88(5) defines relevant terms used in section 88.
This item
provides that “emergency call person” has the meaning given by the
proposed new section 88A (Item 6).
Item 6 - After section 88
New Section 88A - Emergency Call Persons
This item inserts new
section 88A to define “emergency call person” (who are exempted by
proposed new subparagraph 88(3A)(c)(iv) from the prohibitions on disclosure in
existing subsections 88(1) and (2)).
“Emergency call person”
is defined as a recognised person who operates an emergency call service, an
emergency call contractor, or an employee of a recognised person or emergency
call contractor (proposed new subsection 88A(1)).
“Emergency call
service” is defined as a service for:
(a) receiving and handling calls
to an emergency service number; and
(b) providing information about such
calls to a police force or service, a fire service, an ambulance service or a
service specified in the national numbering plan for purposes connected with
dealing with the matters raised in the call (proposed new subsection
88A(2)).
A “recognised person who operates an emergency call
service” is defined as a person who:
(a) operates an emergency call
service; and
(b) is specified, in a written determination made by AUSTEL, as
a national or regional operator of emergency call services (proposed new
subsection 88A(3)).
If AUSTEL makes any determinations a copy is to be
published in the Gazette (proposed new subsection
88A(4)).
“Emergency call contractor” is defined as a person
who performs services for or on behalf of a recognised person who operates an
emergency call service, but is not an employee of the person who operates the
emergency call service (proposed new subsection 88A(5)).
Item 7 - After section 242B
New Section 242C- Emergency service numbers
New section 242C provides a mechanism for identifying “emergency
service numbers” to which the disclosure exemption in proposed new
paragraph 88(3A)(a) would apply.
New subsection 242C(1) provides that
the object of this section is to identify numbers for use in connection with
emergencies that are likely to require the assistance by a police service, a
fire service, ambulance service or a service specified in the national numbering
plan (made by AUSTEL under section 239).
New subsection 242C(2) defines
an “emergency service number” as a number specified for the purposes
of the subsection by AUSTEL in the national numbering plan.
AUSTEL may
specify different numbers for use in different areas (proposed new subsection
242C(3)) or different numbers for use in connection with different types of
services (proposed new subsection 242C(4)).
Part 2- Numbering
charges
Division 2 of Part 11 of the Telecommunications Act requires
AUSTEL to prepare a national numbering plan and sets out provisions relating to
the allocation of numbers for telecommunication services provided by a carrier
or service provider across a public telecommunications network.
The
amendments in Part 2 of the Schedule provide for the collection of numbering
charges that, on enactment of the Telecommunications (Numbering Fees) Amendment
Bill 1996, would be imposed under the Telecommunications (Numbering Charges)
Act 1991.
Item 8 - Subsection 242A(3)
Subsections 242A(3) and (4) make it clear that, notwithstanding the
operation of the Telecommunications (Numbering Fees) Act 1991, a fee may be
charged in respect of the allocation or use of numbers, if it is charged in
accordance with the policies set out in the national numbering plan and any
determination set out in section 242B of conditions in respect of the allocation
or use of numbers.
This item amends subsection 242A(3) to replace the
reference in that subsection to “Telecommunications (Numbering Fees) Act
1991” with a reference to “Telecommunications (Numbering Charges)
Act 1991”.
Item 9 - At the end of Division 2 of Part 11
New section 242D- Collection of numbering charges
This section establishes the arrangements for determining when a numbering
charge, that would be imposed under the Telecommunications (Numbering
Charges) Act 1991, is due and payable; and gives AUSTEL powers to make
written determinations to set out the necessary administrative arrangements to
recover such a charge. These written determinations must be made by
disallowable instrument (proposed subsection 242D(10)).
Proposed
subsection 242D(1) defines “late payment penalty” as an amount that
is payable by way of penalty in accordance with a determination under subsection
(3) and “numbering charge” as a charge imposed by the
Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Act 1991.
Proposed
subsection 242D(2) provides that a numbering charge is due and payable at the
time specified in a written determination by AUSTEL, being a time not later than
15 June in the financial year in which the numbering charge is
imposed.
Proposed subsections 242D(3) and (4) enable AUSTEL to make a
written determination which provides that if numbering charge is unpaid when it
is due for payment, then either interest at the rate of 20% or some lower rate
specified in the determination can be imposed. The effect of such determination
would be that the person who owes the charge would be liable to pay that
interest rate to the Commonwealth.
Proposed subsections 242D(5)-(8)
provide that AUSTEL may make a written determination which authorises it to make
decisions about remitting part or the whole of a late payment penalty; that
numbering charge and late payment penalty are payable to AUSTEL on behalf of the
Commonwealth; that any unpaid payments may be recovered by AUSTEL as debts due
to the Commonwealth, and that payments must be paid into the Consolidated
Revenue Fund.
Proposed subsection 242D(9) gives AUSTEL the discretion to
withdraw numbers from carriers and service providerss liable to pay charge if
that amount is not paid when it became due for payment, after giving them
written notice.
New Section 242E- Collection of charges on behalf of
the Commonwealth
New section 242E provides that AUSTEL may enter into arrangements with a
person to collect payment of a charge on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Item 10 - After Paragraph 397(1)(d)
This item inserts new paragraphs 397(1)(da) and (db) to enable a person to apply to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review on the merits of AUSTEL decisions dealing with remission of late payment penalty (new subsection 242D(5)) or withdrawal of numbers (new subsection 242D(9)).