WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Concluding Comments
Endnotes
Contact Officer and Copyright Details
Telecommunications
Legislation Amendment Bill 1998
Date Introduced: 12 November 1998
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Communications, Information Technology and the
Arts
Commencement: The commencement dates of the
provisions in this Bill are described by the heading to each
Schedule.
Purpose
To amend a number
of Acts including the Telecommunications Act 1997 to:
-
- Provide for the disclosure of carrier information which is
likely to promote competition
-
- Require the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
(ACCC) to monitor and report on charges paid by consumers for
telecommunications services and Telstra's compliance with price
control arrangements
-
- Allow the ACCC to give directions to carriers and to mediate
negotiations when other carriers and carriage service providers are
seeking access to the first carrier's network.
-
- Repeal the provisions of the Telecommunications Act
1997 and the Telstra Corporation Act 1991 which are
to be reenacted by the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and
Service Standards) Bill 1998
Background
The Trade Practices Amendment
(Telecommunications) Act 1997 inserted two new parts into the
Trade Practices Act 1974.
Part XIB of the Trade Practices Act
1974 sets up a special regime for regulating anti-competitive
conduct in the telecommunications industry. The Part sets out the
circumstances in which carriers and carriage service providers are
said to 'engage in anti-competitive conduct'.
Part XIC of the Trade Practices Act
1974 sets out the telecommunications access regime. The ACCC
is empowered to declare services to be 'declared services'.
Carriers and carriage service providers who provide declared
services are required to comply with 'standard access obligations'
in relation to those services. The 'standard access obligations'
facilitate the provision of access to declared services by service
providers in order that service providers can provide carriage
services and/or content services.
The terms and conditions upon which carriers and
carriage service providers are required to comply with the standard
access obligations are subject to agreement.
This Bill is one of a package of five Bills.(1)
Further background about this Bill is contained in the Bills Digest
for the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service
Standards) Bill 1998.
Main
Provisions
This Bill contains four Schedules.
Schedule 1 - Amendments
commencing on Royal Assent
Section 151BU of the Trade Practices Act
1974 allows the ACCC to make rules requiring carriers and
carriage service providers to keep records. The sorts of records
envisaged are those which would be relevant to the ACCC in the
performance of its functions.
Item 15 inserts new
section 151BUA into Part XIB of the Trade Practices
Act 1974. That section allows the ACCC to give a notice to a
carrier or carriage service provider that it intends to make copies
of those records specified in the notice available to the public or
available to the persons specified in the notice. Before giving the
notice, the ACCC must be satisfied that the disclosure would be
likely to promote competition in carriage services and must have
regard to the legitimate commercial interests of the carrier or
carriage service provider.
New section 151BUB is in the
same terms as new section 151BUA but it requires that the carrier
or carriage service provider make the records available (rather
than them being made available by the ACCC).
Decisions made by the ACCC under new sections
151BUA and 151BUB to require the disclosure of records are
reviewable by the Australian Competition Tribunal (Item
27)
New section 151BUE allows
carriers and carriage service providers to make those records
publicly available using the Internet.
Item 29 amends section 151CM of
the Trade Practices Act 1974 to require the ACCC to
monitor and report to the Minister annually on:
-
- Charges paid by consumers for telecommunications services
-
- Telstra's compliance with the price control arrangement
applying to it
-
- The adequacy of each universal service provider's compliance
with the universal service price control arrangements
Item 30 inserts new
Division 12A into Part XIB. That Division will require the
ACCC to monitor and report to the Minister on such matters relating
to competition in the telecommunications industry as the Minister
specifies. The reports are to provided with the regularity
specified by the Minister. Examples of the matters that may be
specified by the Minister to be reported on are:
-
- Charges for telecommunications services
-
- Carriers' and carriage service providers' shares of the total
supply of services and total carriage revenues
Item 36 amends Part XIC.
New section 152BBA empowers the ACCC to give
procedural directions to carriers and access seekers when they are
negotiating the terms and conditions on which an access seeker will
have access to the declared services. This will include the ACCC
being able to direct either of the negotiating parties to provide
relevant information to the other party or requiring a party to
attend a mediation conference. New section 152BBC
allows the parties to jointly request a representative of the ACCC
to attend or mediate at the negotiations.
Schedule 2 - Amendments
commencing not earlier than 1 January 1999
New section 480A of the
Telecommunications Act 1997 will allow the ACA to
determine that carriage service providers must give specified
information to customers about goods and services supplied by the
provider.
Schedule 3 - Amendments
commencing on the commencement of section 1 of the
Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards)
Act 1998
This Schedule contains amendments which are
consequential on the enactment of the Telecommunications (Consumer
Protection and Service Standards) Bill 1998. In particular, it
repeals some of the Parts of the Telecommunications Act
1997 and Telstra Corporation Act 1991 which will be
reenacted by the new bill (items 25 and
68).
Schedule 4 - Amendments
commencing on 1 July 1999
This Schedule repeals the provisions of the
Telecommunications Act 1997 which deal with the universal
service obligation. Those provisions will be reenacted by the
Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Bill
1998.
Concluding Comments
The Bill does not seem to facilitate further
co-operation among carriers and service providers. For instance,
there is no provision to warrant inter-carrier roaming by mobile
telephone users.
Endnotes
1. Telstra (Transition to Full Private
Ownership) Bill 1998
Telecommunications Legislation Amendment Bill
1998
Telecommunications (Universal Service Levy)
Amendment Bill 1998
Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and
Service Standards) Bill 1998
NRS Levy Imposition Amendment Bill 1998
Lee Jones
2 December 1998
Bills Digest Service
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 1998
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