Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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RADIOCOMMUNICATIONS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2003 (NO. 1) 2003 NO. 118

Statutory Rules 2003 No. 118

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

Radiocommunications Act 1992

Radiocommunications Amendment Regulations 2003 (No. 1)

Section 314 of the Radiocommunications Act 1992 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted to be prescribed by the Act, or necessary and convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

The Radiocommunications Regulations 1993 prescribe ancillary matters associated with the Act, including procedures for the conduct of proficiency examinations by the Australian Communications Authority, the payment of penalties for infringements of the Act, and other miscellaneous matters.

Datacasting transmitter licences (DTLs) are defined in section 5 of the Act to include any transmitter licence authorising the use of a transmitter for the transmission of a datacasting service, with the exception of certain transmitter licences authorising commercial broadcasting licensees, community broadcasting licensees and national broadcasters to transmit digital datacasting services, and prescribed transmitter licences.

The Commonwealth Government proposes to grant scientific licences to authorise the transmission of datacasting services on a trial basis. A scientific licence of this kind may fall within the definition of a DTL, unless otherwise prescribed. It is desirable to ensure that scientific licences are not included within the DTL definition, as it is anticipated that trial datacasting services will require greater flexibility, and will have a more limited duration, than services to be provided under DTLs.

The purpose of the regulations is to prescribe scientific licences to ensure that where scientific licences are issued to authorise the conduct of digital television datacasting trials, those scientific licences are not subject to the same licence conditions as DTLs. In particular, the prescribing of scientific licences ensures that:

•       licensees are not required to transmit a datacasting service every day from the commencement of the service (within 12 months of allocation) until 1 January 2007, with limited downtime, as is required for DTLs; and

•       scientific licences could be issued with a relatively limited duration, most likely between 2 to 3 years, whereas the Act specifies that DTLs have a duration of 10 years unless suspended or cancelled, and may be renewed for 5 years.

Details of the regulations appear in the Attachment.

The regulations commence on gazettal.

ATTACHMENT

NOTES ON CLAUSES

1 - Name of Regulations

Clause 1 provides for the citation of the Radiocommunications Amendment Regulations 2003 (No. 1) (the Regulations).

2 - Commencement

Clause 2 provides that the Regulations commence on gazettal.

3 - Amendment of Radiocommunications Regulations 1993

Clause 3 provides for the Radiocommunications Regulations 1993 to be amended as set out in the Schedule to the Regulations.

Schedule 1 - Amendments

[1] - Part 6, before regulation 32

The effect of the amendment made by item 1 is to exclude scientific licences from the definition of "datacasting transmitter licence" (DTL) in section 5 of the Radiocommunications Act 1992 (the Act).

Item 1 inserts new regulation 32A into the Radiocommunications Regulations 1993. New regulation 32A prescribes scientific licences for the purposes of the definition of DTL in section 5 of the Act. The definition of DTL includes any transmitter licence authorising the use of a transmitter for the transmission of a datacasting service, with the exception of:

(a) certain transmitter licences authorising commercial broadcasting licensees and community broadcasting licensees to transmit digital datacasting services;

(b) certain transmitter licences authorising national broadcasters to transmit digital datacasting services, and

(c) prescribed transmitter licences.

Currently, it could be argued that a scientific licence authorising the transmission of datacasting services would fall within the definition of DTL.

The prescribing of scientific licences in new regulation 32A ensures that where scientific licences are issued to authorise the conduct of digital television datacasting trials, those scientific licences are not subject to the same licence conditions as DTLs.

In particular, it is intended that scientific licences authorising the conduct of trial datacasting services will not be subject to the condition that the licensee must transmit a datacasting service every day from the commencement of services (within 12 months of allocation) until 1 January 2007, with limited downtime (see paragraphs 109A(1)(g) and 109A(1)(ga) of the Act).

Further, it is anticipated that the datacasting trial will have a duration of 2 to 3 years. DTLs have a duration of 10 years, unless suspended or cancelled (see subsection 103(5) of the Act). Licensees are also entitled to a single 5 year renewal of the DTL (see subsections 130(2B) and 131(2) of the Act). The prescribing of scientific licences in new regulation 32A ensures that licences authorising trial datacasting transmissions may be issued with a more limited duration.

The note to new regulation 32A refers to the Radiocommunications (Interpretation) Determination 2000, as the definition of "scientific licence" is to be found in Schedule 1 of that Determination.