TELEVISION LICENCE FEES AMENDMENT REGULATION 2013 (NO. 1) (SLI NO 52 OF 2013) EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

TELEVISION LICENCE FEES AMENDMENT REGULATION 2013 (NO. 1) (SLI NO 52 OF 2013)

Television Licence Fees Act 1964

Television Licence Fees Amendment Regulation 2013 (No. 1)

The Television Licence Fees Act 1964 (the Act) requires commercial television broadcasting licensees to pay licence fees in relation to their gross earnings from the televising of advertisements or other matter by the services provided under their licences.

Section 8 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted to be prescribed by the Act, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed in carrying out or giving effect to the Act. Subsection 5(2) of the Act provides that the regulations may make provision for rebates of licence fees payable by commercial television broadcasting licensees.

The purpose of the Regulation is to amend Part 4 of the Television Licence Fees Regulations 1990 (the Principal Regulations) to allow an additional licensee to be an eligible licensee for the purposes of the Principal Regulations and to be able to claim the rebate for the accounting period ending in 2012.

Part 4 of the Principal Regulations was introduced in 2010 to provide for television licence fee rebates, after the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (the Minister) announced that licence fee rebates would be provided to commercial television broadcasting licensees. Part 4 of the Principal Regulations stipulates the amount of licence fee rebates that may be claimed annually by each eligible licensee over a period starting from the accounting period ending in 2010 to the accounting period ending in 2013. Eligible licensees are holders of certain commercial television broadcasting licences allocated under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA), as specified in Regulation 20 in Part 4 of the Principal Regulations.

The Regulation amends Regulation 20 of the Principal Regulations to expand the definition of an eligible licensee. Paragraph (b) of Regulation 20 currently specifies that an eligible licensee includes a licensee who holds a commercial television broadcasting licence allocated under section 38B of the BSA and in force during the period from 7 February 2010 to 31 December 2010. The Regulation amends this period so that it ends on 31 December 2012 and also removes the reference to the licence being 'in force'. The removal of the words 'in force' is to clarify that to be an eligible licensee, the licensee's section 38B licence must have been allocated at some point during the specified time period (but is not required to have been in force for the duration of that period).

This amendment will allow Win Television Griffith, whose section 38B licence for the Griffith and the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area TV1 licence area was allocated on 14 June 2011, to be an eligible licensee for the purposes of the Principal Regulations.

The Regulation also establishes a process for Win Television Griffith to claim the rebate for the accounting period ending in 2012 for its section 38B licence for the Griffith and the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area TV1 licence area.

The Regulation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. The Regulation is subject to parliamentary scrutiny and disallowance.

The Regulation commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (the Department) consulted the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) in relation to the Regulation. The OBPR advised that it considered the Regulation to be a machinery change and that a Regulation Impact Statement was therefore not required.

This statement of compatibility is prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

The purpose of this Regulation is to provide for a rebate to be available for an additional commercial television broadcasting licensee under the television licence fee rebate scheme for the accounting periods ending in 2012 and 2013.

This Regulation is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. This is because the Regulation does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms, and it does not raise any human rights issues.

The Minister's Office and the Department have consulted the affected licensee (Win Television Griffith) with respect to the Regulation. The Department also consulted the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which is responsible for collecting television licence fees and administering the licence fee rebate scheme.

ATTACHMENT

Details of the Television Licence Fees Amendment Regulation 2013 (No. 1)

Section 1 - Name of Regulation

This section provides that the title of the Regulation is the Television Licence Fees Amendment Regulation 2013 (No. 1).

Section 2 - Commencement

This section sets out the date on which the Regulation commences. It provides that the Regulation commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

Section 3 - Authority

Section 3 provides that the Regulation is made under the Television Licence Fees Act 1964.

Section 4 - Schedule(s)

Section 4 provides that each instrument specified in a Schedule to the Regulation is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms. There is one Schedule to the Regulation. Schedule 1 amends the Television Licence Fees Regulations 1990 (the Principal Regulations).

Schedule 1 - Amendments

Item [1] - Regulation 20 (paragraph (b) of the definition of eligible licensee)

Item [1] of Schedule 1 repeals and substitutes paragraph (b) of the definition of eligible licensee in Regulation 20 of the Principal Regulations.

The effect of Item [1] is that a licensee who holds a commercial television broadcasting licence allocated under section 38B of the BSA during the period from 7 February 2010 and 31 December 2012 is an eligible licensee for the purposes of the Principal Regulations. Paragraph (b) of the definition of eligible licensee previously restricted the period in which the licence was allocated and in force to between 7 February 2010 and 31 December 2010.

Win Television Griffith was allocated a section 38B licence (with service licence number SL1130146) for the Griffith and the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area TV1 licence area on 14 June 2011. This amendment will allow Win Television Griffith to be an eligible licensee in respect of that section 38B licence for the purposes of claiming the rebate.

This amendment also removes the reference to the section 38B licence being 'in force' for the specified time period. This amendment clarifies that to be an eligible licensee, the section 38B licence must have been allocated at some point during this time period, but is not required to have been in force for the duration of that period.

Item [2] - After subregulation 23 (2)

Item [2] of Schedule 1 inserts subregulations 23(2A) and (2B) in the Principal Regulations.

New subregulation 23(2A) establishes a process for Win Television Griffith to claim the licence fee rebate for the accounting period ending in 2012 for the section 38B licence with the service licence number SL1130146.

In order to claim the rebate, Win Television Griffith must notify the ACMA of its intention to claim within 30 days of the commencement of the Regulation. The ACMA would pay the rebate for the licence for the 2011-12 accounting period after all outstanding licence fees for the licence for that accounting period have been paid by Win Television Griffith.

New subregulation 23(2B) provides that subregulations 23(2A) and (2B) will expire on 30 June 2013, as these provisions will be redundant once Win Television Griffith has claimed (and been paid) the rebate.

Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

Television Licence Fees Act 1964

Television Licence Fees Amendment Regulation 2013 (No. 1)

The Television Licence Fees Act 1964 (the Act) requires commercial television broadcasting licensees to pay licence fees in relation to their gross earnings from the televising of advertisements or other matter by the services provided under their licences.