Telecommunications consumer information obligations should be streamlined and identity check requirements for prepaid mobile phones should be abolished or revised to lower costs to business while achieving their policy objective of allowing law enforcement agencies to identify mobile phone owners, the Productivity Commission says in a new report.

According to a draft report released by the Productivity Commission, agreements for reforms in the transport, education and energy sectors have not yet significantly reduced the regulatory burden faced by businesses.

The draft research report – Annual Review of Regulatory Burdens on Business: Social and Economic Infrastructure Services Sector – identifies ways to reduce the regulatory burdens on businesses in aged care, child care, education, telecommunications, energy, transport and other areas.

‘Reducing red tape in these sectors will enhance productivity - taking a burden off business while

increasing the scope for better, cheaper services for consumers,’ Commissioner Angela MacRae said.

Regulation is used to reduce various risks in the sectors under review. However, the Commission has found poorly designed regulation has caused:

• excessive and duplicative reporting requirements

• overly prescriptive regulations

• narrow interpretation of regulations by regulators

• a regulatory reaction to isolated adverse events, where additional regulation is introduced across the whole sector rather than being targeted at high risk areas alone.

The Commission identified several key areas where regulations can be made less burdensome for business while maintaining or improving services. They include:

• clarifying the responsibilities between regulatory bodies in aged care and child care and

adopting a more targeted, risk-management approach in administering regulations

• exploring options to introduce more competition into aged care services

• increasing the regulatory flexibility of local content presence and content requirements for radio and TV

• streamlining reporting requirements across the sector, particularly in education.

Interested stakeholders are encouraged to comment on the draft through a second round of

submissions. After further consultation, the Report will be finalised by end August.

The report can also be accessed via the Internet at http://www.pc.gov.au/