Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

TELECOMMUNICATIONS (INTERCEPTION AND ACCESS) ACT 1979 - SECT 198

  (1)   If a carrier or a nominated carriage service provider gives the Communications Access Co - ordinator an IC plan under section   196, 197 or 201, or an amended IC plan under this section, the Co - ordinator must, within 60 days of receiving the plan:

  (a)   approve the plan and notify the carrier or provider of the approval; or

  (b)   give the plan back to the carrier or provider with a written request for the carrier or provider to give the Co - ordinator an amended IC plan to take account of specified matters.

Consultation with interception agencies and the ACMA

  (2)   As soon as practicable after receiving an IC plan (the original plan ) under section   196, 197 or 201, the Communications Access Co - ordinator must:

  (a)   give a copy of the plan to:

  (i)   the interception agencies that, in the opinion of the Co - ordinator, are likely to be interested in the plan; and

  (ii)   the ACMA; and

  (b)   invite each such interception agency to provide comments on the plan to the Co - ordinator.

Request for amendment of original plan

  (3)   If:

  (a)   the Communications Access Co - ordinator receives a comment from an interception agency requesting an amendment of the original plan; and

  (b)   the Co - ordinator considers the request to be a reasonable one;

the Co - ordinator must:

  (c)   give the carrier or provider a copy of the comment or a summary of the comment; and

  (d)   request that the carrier or provider respond to the comment or summary within the period (the response period ) of 30 days of receiving the comment or summary.

Response to request for amendment of original plan

  (4)   The carrier or provider must respond to a request for an amendment of the original plan either:

  (a)   by indicating its acceptance of the request, by amending the original plan appropriately and by giving the amended plan to the Communications Access Co - ordinator within the response period; or

  (b)   by indicating that it does not accept the request and providing its reasons for that non - acceptance.

The ACMA's role

  (5)   If the carrier or provider indicates that it does not accept a request for an amendment of the original plan, the Communications Access Co - ordinator must:

  (a)   refer the request and the carrier's or provider's response to the ACMA; and

  (b)   request the ACMA to determine whether any amendment of the original plan is required.

  (6)   The ACMA must then:

  (a)   determine in writing that no amendment of the original plan is required in response to the request for the amendment; or

  (b)   if, in the opinion of the ACMA:

  (i)   the request for the amendment is a reasonable one; and

  (ii)   the carrier's or provider's response to the request for the amendment is not reasonable;

    determine in writing that the original plan should be amended in a specified manner and give a copy of the determination to the carrier or provider.

Amendment of original plan

  (7)   On receipt of a determination under paragraph   (6)(b), the carrier or provider must:

  (a)   amend the original plan to take account of that determination; and

  (b)   give the amended plan to the Communications Access Co - ordinator.

ACMA determination not a legislative instrument

  (8)   A determination made under subsection   (6) is not a legislative instrument.