EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Approved by the Australian Communications and Media Authority
Broadcasting Services Act 1992
Broadcasting and Datacasting Services (Parental Lock) Technical Standard Amendment 2017 (No. 1)
Authority
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) has made the Broadcasting and Datacasting Services (Parental Lock) Technical Standard Amendment 2017 (No. 1) (the instrument) under subsection 130B(1) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the Act) and subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (the AIA).
Subsection 130B(1) of the Act provides that the ACMA may, by legislative instrument, determine technical standards that relate to domestic reception equipment that is capable of receiving any or all of the following services transmitted in digital mode using the broadcasting services bands:
(a) commercial television broadcasting services;
(b) national television broadcasting services;
(c) community television broadcasting services;
(d) subscription television broadcasting services;
(e) television broadcasting services provided under a class licence;
(f) datacasting services provided under datacasting licences.
Subsection 33(3) of the AIA provides that where an Act confers a power to make a legislative instrument, the power shall be construed as including a power exercisable in the like manner and subject to the like conditions (if any) to repeal, rescind, revoke, amend, or vary any such instrument.
Purpose and operation of the instrument
The purpose of the instrument is to amend the Broadcasting and Datacasting Services (Parental Lock) Technical Standard 2010 (the Parental Lock Technical Standard) made under subsection 130B(1) of the Act. The instrument amends the Parental Lock Technical Standard by:
- replacing the definition of ‘electricity supply body’ in the Parental Lock Technical Standard; and
- removing a classification code that is redundant.
Section 3 of the Parental Lock Technical Standard includes the definitions of words and terms used in the Parental Lock Technical Standard. The section includes a definition of ‘electricity supply body’, which refers to the definition that the term has in the Radiocommunications (Domestic Digital Television Receiver – Characteristic) Determination 2007 (the Characteristic Determination).
Under Part 4 of Chapter 3 of the Legislation Act 2003, the Characteristic Determination will be repealed automatically on 1 October 2017. The instrument makes a consequential amendment to the Parental Lock Technical Standard because of the repeal, to replace the definition of ‘electricity supply body’ in the Parental Lock Technical Standard with the definition that that term has in the Characteristic Determination.
Section 4 of the Parental Lock Technical Standard includes the classification codes that apply to a television program or datacasting content. One of the classification codes (adult audience strong violence 15+ (AV)) is no longer included in the Commercial Television Code of Practice developed by Free TV Australia. The instrument removes the reference to this code.
A provision-by-provision description of the instrument is set out in the notes at Attachment A.
The instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 (the LA).
Consultation
Before the instrument was made, the ACMA was satisfied that consultation was undertaken to the extent appropriate and reasonably practicable, in accordance with section 17 of the LA.
The ACMA published a draft of the instrument and an accompanying consultation paper on its website between 29 June 2017 and 4 August 2017. The consultation paper explained the need for the amendment to the Parental Lock Technical Standard and the nature of that amendment.
The ACMA received no submissions in response to the public consultation process.
Regulatory impact assessment
A preliminary assessment of the proposal to make the instrument was conducted by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR), based on information provided by the ACMA for the purposes of determining whether a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) would be required. OBPR advised that a RIS would not be required because the removal of the classification code would have no regulatory impact and the inclusion of a definition of ‘electricity supply body’ was machinery. OBPR’s reference number for the matter is 22363.
Statement of compatibility with human rights
Subsection 9(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 requires the rule-maker in relation to a legislative instrument to which section 42 (disallowance) of the LA applies to cause a statement of compatibility to be prepared in respect of that legislative instrument.
The statement of compatibility set out below has been prepared to meet that requirement.
Overview of the instrument
The instrument amends the Parental Lock Technical Standard. The instrument does this by:
- replacing the definition of ‘electricity supply body’ in the Parental Lock Technical Standard with the definition that it has in the Characteristic Determination. This is because the definition in the Parental Lock Technical Standard refers to the Characteristic Determination, which will be repealed automatically on 1 October 2017; and
- removing the classification code (adult audience strong violence 15+ (AV)) as this classification code is no longer included in the Commercial Television Code of Practice developed by Free TV Australia.
The nature of the changes is such that the instrument does not have any impact on the persons to whom the Parental Lock Technical Standard applies.
Human rights implications
The ACMA has assessed whether the instrument is compatible with human rights, being the rights and freedoms recognised or declared by the international instruments listed in subsection 3(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 as they apply to Australia.
Having considered the likely impact of the instrument and the nature of the applicable rights and freedoms, the ACMA has formed the view that the instrument does not engage any of those rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
The instrument is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.
Attachment A
Notes to the Broadcasting and Datacasting Services (Parental Lock) Technical Standard Amendment 2017 (No. 1)
Section 1 Name
This section provides for the instrument to be cited as the Broadcasting and Datacasting Services (Parental Lock) Technical Standard Amendment 2017 (No. 1).
Section 2 Commencement
This section provides for the instrument to commence at the start of the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.
The Federal Register of Legislation may be accessed at www.legislation.gov.au.
Section 3 Authority
This section identifies the provision of the Act that authorises the making of the instrument, namely subsection 130B(1) of the Act.
Section 4 Amendments
This section provides that the Parental Lock Technical Standard [F2010L02220] is amended as outlined in Schedule 1 of the instrument.
Schedule 1––Amendments
Item 1 Section 3 (definition of electricity supply body)
This item replaces the definition of electricity supply body in section 3 of the Parental Lock Technical Standard with the one in the item.
Item 2 Paragraph 4(2)(h)
This item repeals paragraph 4(2)(h), to remove the adult audience strong violence 15+ (AV) classification code from the list of classification codes.