Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS (CARRIER LICENCE FEES) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1996 NO.157

Statutory Rules 1996 No. 157

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Communications and the Arts

Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Act 1991

Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Regulations (Amendment)

Section 8 of the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Act 1991 (the Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters:

(a)       required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed; or

(b)       necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Section 4 of the Act provides that the holder of a general telecommunications licence or a public mobile licence must pay to 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 regulations as m force immediately before that 1 July.

Paragraph 5(1)(b) of the Act provides that, without limiting section 4, regulations made for the purposes of that section may prescribe a procedure in accordance with which the amount of a fee is to be determined.

Section 6 of the Act provides that the total of the fees that become payable under the Act on 1 July in a financial year must not exceed the sum of:

(a)       all amounts appropriated, in respect of the immediately preceding financial year, for the purposes of the Australian Telecommunications Authority (AUSTEL); and

(b)       an amount. determined under 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.

The ITU is a United Nations specialised agency with over 180 members concerned with international cooperation in the use of telecommunications, and the radio frequency spectrum and with promoting communications in developing countries. The ITU's work is organised in three sectors: Telecommunication Standardization, Radiocommunication and Telecommunication Development. Australia's ITU contribution is made on a calendar year basis.

Section 6 of the Act was recently amended by the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Amendment Act 1996 to enable the recovery of the full telecommunications carriers' share of the ITU contribution. This amending Act provides that the amendment made to section 6 applies in respect only of fees payable on 1 July 1996 or on 1 July of each succeeding year in respect of a general telecommunications licence or a public mobile licence.

The Government has agreed that, as radiocommunication and telecommunications carrier licensees are the major beneficiaries of the Government's participation in the ITU, it is appropriate that the full Commonwealth contribution to the ITU should he recovered from those licensees. Separate arrangements are being put in place to recover the full radiocommunications share of the ITU contribution through radiocommunications licence fees. This amendment to the regulations will enable recovery of the fix telecommunications carriers' share of the contribution through their licence fees.

Details of the accompanying Regulations are as follows:

Regulation 1: Commencement

Regulation 1 provides that the accompanying Regulations commence on 30 June 1996. This will ensure that the accompanying Regulations are in force before 1 July 1996 to allow the full recovery of the telecommunications carriers' share of Australia's contribution to the ITU through carrier licence fees payable on 1 July 1996.

Despite subsection 48(2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Amendment Act 1996 allows for Regulations made under paragraph 6(b) of the principal Act, for the purposes of determining the amount of the fee payable by carriers on 1 July 1996 under that Act, to be expressed to have commenced at a time not earlier than the commencement of the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Amendment Act 1996. The Act commenced on 28 June 1996.

Regulation 2: Amendment

Regulation 2 provides that the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Regulations are amended as set out in the accompanying Regulations.

Regulation 3: Regulation 4 (Limit of annual fees - proportion of Commonwealth's contribution to ITU budget)

Proposed Regulation 3 omits Regulation 4 of the Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Regulations and replaces it with a new Regulation which provides that, for the purposes of paragraph 6(b) of the Act, the amount determined for a calendar year is the product of:

(a)       the Commonwealth's contribution to the budget of the ITU for that calendar year; and

(b)       the number (rounded to 2 decimal places) obtained using the formula:

where:

"T"       is the amount of the budget of the ITUs Telecommunication Standardization sector for that calendar year., and

"R"       is the amount of the budget of the ITU's Radiocommunication sector for that calendar year.