The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, announced this week amendments to the Telecommunications Act to give the Minister the power to direct the Australian Communications and Media Authority to develop consumer protection standards.

Senator Conroy made the announcement at this week’s Communications Day conference.

“At last year’s summit, I announced the Government would review the way that Consumer Codes are developed. That review is now complete,” he said.

“One of the findings was that there is tension between consumers and the industry, when it comes to consumer protection. Industry prefers that consumer safeguards have limited enforceability, while consumers want strong protections that are enforceable by the regulator.

“Today, I can announce that as part of our response to that review process, I intend to amend the Telecommunications Act, to give the Minister the authority to direct ACMA to develop an industry standard, where the Minister considers it appropriate to do so.

“Unlike a consumer code, a consumer protection standard will be developed by the regulator, who will need to balance the interests of consumers with those of the industry.

“It will be directly enforceable by the ACMA and therefore, it will be a more powerful and flexible instrument. Failure to comply with an industry standard would be subject to civil penalty provisions. Corporations will be subject to penalties of up to $250,000 and individuals to penalties of up $50,000 for each contravention.

“I will also amend the Act to allow for consumer-related Service Provider Determinations to be made. These will extend consumer protections even further.

“The industry code development process is cumbersome and inflexible because there is currently no way that a code can be varied – even for minor or urgent changes.

“I will amend the Act to allow for Codes to be varied rather than replaced in their entirety. This will make Codes a more flexible and responsive to consumer concerns. A new requirement that the code developer must publish submissions will make the process more transparent and the code developer more accountable.

“I note that starting in May, Communications Alliance will commence their scheduled reviews of the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code, and the Mobile Premium Service Industry Code. This is an opportunity for industry to demonstrate that the co-regulatory framework can work better, and have proper regard for the concerns of consumers.

“I have asked my Department, and the ACMA, to work with industry and consumer groups to produce stronger, more enforceable codes under this process.”