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1999
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF
AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
(NUMBERING CHARGES) AMENDMENT BILL 1999
EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM
(Circulated
by authority of Senator the Hon. Richard Alston, Minister for Communications,
Information Technology and the Arts)
ISBN: 0642 426139
TELECOMMUNICATIONS (NUMBERING
CHARGES) AMENDMENT BILL 1999
OUTLINE
The Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Amendment Bill 1999
(‘the Bill’) provides minor administrative amendments which will
improve the efficiency with which the Australian Communications Authority (ACA)
administers the Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Act 1997
(‘the Act’). This Act provides for the imposition of charges in
relation to certain numbers allocated to carriage service providers.
The
Bill amends the operation of section 17 of the Act by providing an explicit
definition of a transferred number and section 18 of the Act by altering the
date on which numbering charges are imposed.
The Bill provides that a
transferred number, for the purposes of the Act, will be a number that has
been:
§ ported from one carriage service provider
to another provider; or
§ transferred by way of a written agreement
between one carriage service provider and another provider.
By defining a
transferred number in this way, it will be possible for a number to move from a
primary to a secondary provider without necessarily moving the numbering charge
liability attached to the number. This will greatly reduce the number of
numbering charges invoices the ACA has to prepare each financial
year.
The Bill will also change the date on which numbering charges are
imposed from
22 May to a date in April to be determined by the ACA by 15
February of each year. The current numbering charges date, 22 May, creates
unnecessarily short deadlines for providers and the ACA given that numbering
charges have to be paid before the end of the financial year. The flexibility
that the Bill provides to the ACA for setting the date is not envisaged as a
mechanism by which the ACA can arbitrarily alter the numbering charges date. It
is intended that the ACA will use this flexibility to determine a date in order
to address exceptional circumstances arising from a Y2K type of
problem.
Should the Bill receive Royal Assent on or before 15 February
2000, these proposed amendments will apply in 2000 and following years. Should
the Bill receive Royal Assent after 15 February 2000 the amendments will apply
in 2001 and following years.
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
The Bill will not have any financial impact on Commonwealth revenue or
expenditure.
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 provides that the Bill, when enacted, may be cited as the
Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Amendment Act 1999.
Clause 2 provides for the amendments made by the Bill to commence on
Royal Assent.
Clause 3 provides that those Acts specified in the Schedule shall be
amended or repealed according to the terms of the applicable items in the
Schedule. The items of the Schedule are described below.
SCHEDULE 1
– AMENDMENT OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS (NUMBERING CHARGES) ACT
1997
Section 5 of the Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Act 1997
(the ‘Act’) sets out the definitions of key terms used in the Act.
The word “transferred” is currently defined, in relation to a
number, to mean transferred between carriage service providers in accordance
with the ACA’s Telecommunications Numbering Plan 1997. This
numbering plan provides for the numbering of carriage services in Australia and
the use of numbers in connection with the supply of such
services.
Section 17 of the Act provides that a carriage service provider
will be taken to hold a number (and therefore be liable to pay a numbering
charge on that number – see s.19) if the number has been allocated or
transferred to the provider at a particular time and has not been subsequently
withdrawn, surrendered or transferred.
The effect of s.17 of the Act is
that carriage service providers who are resellers or in a service provider
relationship with another carriage service provider (in effect ‘secondary
providers’) are liable for annual numbering charges in relation to
chargeable numbers transferred to them and which they hold on the charging date
(22 May). Most secondary providers obtain their number from ‘primary
providers’ who obtain their numbers directly from the ACA. As a result of
such number transfers, the number of secondary providers is large and adds to
the administrative complexity of collecting charges. In 1997-98, for example,
the ACA had to deal with some 102 carriage service providers, of whom 83 were
secondary suppliers paying only 6% of total revenue, with most invoices being
for less than $120.
To overcome this problem, item 1 repeals the
definition of “transferred” in section 5 of the Act, item 2 inserts
a new section 5A providing for the meaning of “transferred” and item
3 makes a minor amendment to section 17 of the Act.
Item 2 inserts a new section 5A which provides for 2 circumstances in
which a number will be taken to be “transferred”.
Proposed
subsection 5A(1) provides that a number is “transferred” when it is
ported from one carriage service provider who holds the number to another
carriage service provider.
§ Portability is the ability for a customer
of a carriage service provider to change their carriage service provider but
retain the same phone number.
§ This definition is designed to include,
but not be limited to, rules for portability established in accordance with
s.455(5)(d) of the Telecommunications Act 1997.
§ For the
purposes of the Act, a carriage service provider who holds the number refers to
a carriage service provider who, at the time of the port, holds both the number
to be ported and the numbering charge liability of the number to be
ported.
Proposed subsection 5A(2) provides that a number will also be
taken to be “transferred” if there is a binding written agreement to
that effect between the two carriage service providers that jointly provide the
ACA with written notification of the agreement. The transfer will come into
effect either on the day the ACA receives notification of the agreement or on a
later date specified in the written notification.
Proposed subsection
5A(3) provides that if a number is ported while subject to a written agreement
providing for its transfer at a particular time, the porting takes precedence.
The number will be taken to have been “transferred” from the time at
which it was ported rather than the time specified in the written
agreement.
Section 5A will permit carriage service providers to move a
number to another carriage service provider without necessarily moving the
numbering charge liability attached to that number.
Item 3 inserts additional words at the end of s.17(1)(b)(iii) of the Act
which will mean that only transfers of numbers from a carriage service provider
that holds the number for the purposes of the number charge count as transfers
for the purposes of the Act. This ensures that should a number be ported, or
moved in some other fashion, from a carriage service provider that did not hold
the numbering charge liability, the number movement shall have no impact on the
numbering charge liability.
Item 4 – Repeal and substitution of
section 18 (Imposition of charge)
Under s.18 of the Act a carriage
service provider’s liability for charges is calculated on the anniversary
of the commencement of the Act, that is, 22 May. Because number charges must be
paid by 15 June (the last practical date for processing payments before the end
of the financial year), both carriage service providers and the ACA face
significant administrative burdens. Service providers must provide data on
numbers held within 4 days, the ACA must then calculate charges and dispatch
invoices within 6 days. The necessary haste increases the risk of error, which
is undesirable given the significant sums involved. The short timeframe also
means providers with liabilities have less than 2 weeks to pay the charges,
which can be substantial.
Item 4 repeals s.18 and replaces it with a new
s.18. which provides for the determination of the date upon which numbering
charges are imposed:
§ new s.18(2) provides for the ACA to
determine the date on which numbering charges will be imposed. This date will
be a day in April. The ACA’s determination of this date will occur before
16 February each financial year;
§ new s.18(1) states that if a carriage
service provider holds an allocated number at the beginning of the day
determined in s.18(2), a numbering charge will be imposed on the number;
and
§ new
s.18(3) requires the ACA to publish its determination of the numbering charges
date in the Gazette prior to the determined date.
Proposed new
section 18 provides limited flexibility to the ACA when determining the date on
which numbering charges will be imposed. The flexibility is provided to allow
the ACA to determine a date in order to address exceptional circumstances which
might arise from a Y2K type problem. It is not intended that the ACA alter the
date arbitrarily in a financial year.
Item 5 -
Application
This item deals with the application of amendments made
by the Bill.
These amendments come into effect on a day in 2000 if the
Bill receives Royal Assent on or before 15 February 2000. If the Bill receives
Royal Assent after 15 February 2000 the amendments will come into effect on a
day in 2001 (subitems 5(1) and (2)).
Subitem 5(3) provides for the
definition of “transferred” described in proposed s.5A(2) to apply
to binding written agreements and notifications of those agreements to the ACA
made prior to this Bill receiving Royal Assent. Agreements already in place
between carriage service providers regarding the transfer of numbers will not
have to be re-negotiated, although under s.5A(2) the ACA will need to be
formally notified of the agreement, if they are to be considered as transfers
for the purposes of the numbering charge liability.