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1996
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF
AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
(CARRIER LICENCE FEES)
TERMINATION BILL
1996
EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM
(Circulated
by authority of Senator the Hon. Richard Alston, Minister for Communications and
the Arts)
79310 Cat. No. 96 5326 0 ISBN 0644 482664
TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CARRIER LICENCE FEES) TERMINATION BILL 1996
OUTLINE
The Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Termination Bill 1996
(‘the Bill’) provides for the repeal of the Telecommunications
(Carrier Licence Fees) Act 1991 with effect on 1 July 1998 and deals with
the payment by existing telecommunications carriers of carrier licence fees on 1
July 1997.
As a result of the Bill, persons who currently hold a general
telecommunications licence or a public mobile licence will be obliged to pay the
Commonwealth, on 1 July 1997, by way of tax in respect of the licence, a fee of
an amount determined in accordance with the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence
Fees) Regulations as in force on 30 June 1997.
These Regulations will be
modified, consistent with the amendments proposed by the Bill, to enable the
costs of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in dealing
with certain transitional matters relating to telecommunications before 1 July
1997 to be recovered from the existing carriers.
From 1 July 1997 the
ACCC will be responsible for competition matters currently administered by
AUSTEL. In the lead up to 1 July 1997, the ACCC will require additional funding
to enable it to undertake a range of activities related to its new role in
regulating telecommunications matters. These matters will include developing
relevant guidelines, engaging in market inquiries to determine whether to issue
a tariff filing direction, being consulted about the development of Ministerial
Rules of Conduct about dealings with international telecommunications operators,
developing access pricing guidelines and preparing a statement specifying
eligible services covered by existing access agreements. The Bill provides for
this additional funding to be recovered from carriers.
From 1 July 1998
onwards, carriers will be obliged to pay an annual licence charge under the
proposed Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Charges) Act
1996.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The Bill will enable the recovery from existing telecommunications
carriers of an additional amount in the order of $1 million to fund the
ACCC’s activities in preparing for the commencement of the
Telecommunications Bill 1996 and, following commencement, engaging in activities
under that Bill, proposed Parts XIB and XIC of the Trade Practices Act
1974 (dealing with anti-competitive conduct and the telecommunications
access regime) and Part 3 of the Telecommunications (Transitional Provisions and
Consequential Amendments) Bill 1996 (which contains transitional provisions
relating to the telecommunications access regime).
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 – Short title
Clause 1 provides for the
citation of the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Termination Act
1996.
Clause 2 – Commencement
Clause 2 provides
for Schedule 2 to the Bill, which repeals the Telecommunications (Carrier
Licence Fees) Act 1991, to commence on 1 July 1998 and for the rest of the
Bill to commence on the day on which it receives the Royal
Assent.
Clause 3 – Schedule(s)
Clause 3 provides, in
effect, that the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Act 1991 is
amended as set out in Schedule 1, with item 6 in that Schedule having effect
according to its terms, and that that Act is to be repealed from 1 July 1998 in
accordance with Schedule 2.
Schedule 1 – Amendments to the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Act 1991
Item 1 – Amendment of section 4
Section 4 of the
Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Act 1991 currently provides for
the holder of a general telecommunications licence or a public mobile licence to
pay the Commonwealth, by way of tax in respect of the licence, on each 1 July
that occurs while the licence is in effect or within 12 months after it ceases
to be in effect, a fee of an amount determined in accordance with the
Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Regulations as in force immediately
before that 1 July 1997.
Item 1 replaces s. 4 with a provision which will
require existing carriers to pay the Commonwealth, by way of tax in respect of
their carrier licence, on 1 July 1997, a fee of an amount determined in
accordance with the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Regulations as in
force on 30 June 1997. These Regulations will be modified, consistent with the
amendments proposed by the Bill, to enable the costs of the ACCC in dealing with
certain transitional matters relating to telecommunications before 1 July 1997
to be recovered from the existing carriers.
Items 2 to 5 –
Amendment of section 6
Section 6 of the Telecommunications
(Carrier Licence Fees) Act 1991 currently provides that the total of the
carrier licence fees payable under that Act on 1 July in a financial year is not
to exceed the sum of all amounts appropriated for AUSTEL’s purposes in
respect of the immediately preceding financial year and an amount determined by
the Regulations to be the proportion of the Commonwealth’s contribution to
the budget of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the calendar
year in which that 1 July occurs that is to be recovered from carriers.
Items 2 to 5 amend s. 6 to extend this limit to include an amount
determined by the ACCC, by a disallowable instrument notified in the
Commonwealth Gazette before 1 July 1997, to be the proportion of the
ACCC’s appropriation for the current financial year that is attributable
to the ACCC’s ‘special telecommunications functions and
powers’. These ‘special telecommunications functions and
powers’ will mean the functions and powers conferred on the ACCC by or
under any of the following provisions:
(a) a provision of the proposed
Telecommunications Act 1996 eg. a provision of Part 20 of that Act, which
will allow the ACCC to make a determination, or give a direction, under Rules of
Conduct about dealings with international telecommunications
operators;
(b) a provision of proposed Part XIB of the Trade Practices
Act 1974, which sets up a special regime for regulating anti-competitive
conduct in the telecommunications industry;
(c) a provision of proposed
Part XIC of the Trade Practices Act 1974, which sets out a
telecommunications access regime;
(d) a provision of Part 3 of the
proposed Telecommunications (Transitional Provisions and Consequential
Amendments) Act 1996, containing transitional provisions relating to the
telecommunications access regime;
and will include anything done by the
ACCC (whether before or after the passage of the Bill) in preparation for the
commencement of such a provision.
Item 6 –
Transitional––regulations
The effect of item 6 is that
the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Regulations as in force on 30 June
1997 will have effect as if they had been made for the purposes of s. 4 of the
Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Act 1991 as amended by the
Bill.
Schedule 2––Repeal of the
Telecommunications
(Carrier Licence
Fees) Act 1991
Item 1 of Schedule 2, when read with subclause 2(2), repeals the
Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Act 1991 with effect on 1 July
1998.
On 1 July 1998 and each following 1 July, an annual licence charge
will be imposed on carriers under the proposed Telecommunications (Carrier
Licence Charges) Act 1996.