In this section

Telecommunications Amendment (Integrated Public Number Database) Act 2006

Background

In response to reports of IPND data being used for inappropriate purposes such as marketing and debt collection, the Telecommunications Amendment (Integrated Public Number Database) Bill 2006 was introduced. The bill was passed by Parliament on 30 November 2006, and received Royal Assent on 8 December 2006.

The Telecommunications Amendment (Integrated Public Number Database) Act 2006 (the IPND Act) amends the Telecommunications Act 1997 to:

insert a definition of public number directory (PND) into the Telecommunications Act which requires that a PND must only include the public number, name and, optionally, address of a person unless the person is a qualifying entity. Additional information may be contained in a PND about qualifying entities if allowed for in a legislative instrument. Qualifying entities include businesses, charities, educational institutions, religious organisations, departments of the Commonwealth, a state or territory, and agencies of the Commonwealth, a state or territory (which includes local government);
permit access to information in the IPND for a limited number of research purposes considered to be in the public interest, as set out in a legislative instrument;
give ACMA a gatekeeper role in granting authorisations to access information in the IPND for the publication and maintenance of telephone directories and the conduct of permitted research; and
introduce criminal offences and penalties for breaching a condition of authorisation and for unauthorised disclosure and use of IPND data.

The IPND scheme

The Act requires ACMA to develop a scheme for the granting of authorisations permitting persons to use and disclose IPND data. The IPND scheme was established in a legislative instrument made by ACMA. A copy of ACMA's draft Telecommunications Integrated Public Number Database Scheme 2007 is available through the ACMA website.

The Act permits the scheme to include the following elements:

the making and assessing of applications;
a requirement that an applicant specify the purpose for which the authorisation is sought;
the ability for ACMA to treat applications differently depending on the purpose for which the authorisation is sought;
the making of provisional and formal authorisations by ACMA;
the imposition of conditions on authorisations by ACMA and the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts;
the varying and revoking of authorisations; and
the ability for ACMA, before making a decision, to consult with such persons as ACMA considers appropriate and discretion to have regard to any submission made by those persons as a result of the consultation.

ACMA is required to consult with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the Secretary of the Attorney-General's Department on development of the scheme.

In addition, key aspects of the scheme are to be contained in legislative instruments. The instruments are:

An instrument specifying additional research purposes that are in the public interest (made under subsection 285(3) of the Act). This instrument provides the flexibility to specify additional permitted research purposes over time, or to remove a research purpose from the list of permitted purposes;
An instrument determining that authorisations for access to the IPND are granted subject to certain conditions, which are specified in the instrument (made under subsection 295P of the Act);
An instrument specifying the criteria that ACMA must have regard to when deciding applications for authorisations (made under subsection 295N of the Act);
An instrument specifying additional information that may be included in a public number directory in relation to qualifying entities (made under subsection 285(4) of the Act). The default position in the Act is that public number directories may only contain the name, public number and, optionally, the address of a person or body. Under this instrument, additional information may be specified, such as website addresses, that can be contained in public number directories in relation to bodies that are ‘qualifying entities'—for example, businesses, charities, educational institutions and other such organisations;
An instrument specifying additional requirements on public number directories (made under subsection 285(5) of the Act). This instrument allows the placement of additional requirements on public number directories, for example formatting requirements such as limits on the number of entries that can be copied and pasted from a directory or limits on the number of entries that can be generated from a single search;
An instrument specifying further types of qualifying entities about which additional information may be included in a public number directory (made under subsection 285(6) of the Act); and
An instrument specifying additional decisions made by ACMA that are reviewable by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (made under subsection 295Q of the Act) . If the IPND scheme legislative instrument requires ACMA to make additional decisions to those listed at paragraph 1(m) of Schedule 4 of the Telecommunications Act, this instrument allows a requirement for these additional decisions to be reviewable by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, if the Communications Minister considers this to be appropriate.

Legislative instruments

Five of the seven instruments have been made. These are:

The remaining two instruments allowed for in the Act may not need to be made. The instrument specifying further types of qualifying entities will only be made if a certain type of qualifying entity has inadvertently been omitted from the list in the IPND Act. The instrument specifying additional decisions of ACMA that are reviewable by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal will only be made where the IPND scheme requires ACMA to make additional decisions to those listed in the IPND Act.

Document ID: 57256 |
Last modified: 4 February 2008, 5:20pm