EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Radiocommunications (Licensing and General) Regulations (Amendment)
Statutory Rules 1989 No. 319
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Transport and Communications
Subsection 93(1) of the Radiocommunications Act 1983 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Section 24 of the Act provides that the Minister may grant to an applicant a licence to operate and to possess specified radiocommunications transmitters or radiocommunications transmitters included in a class of radiocommunications transmitters.
Subregulation 2(1) of the Radiocommunications (Licensing and General) Regulations (the Regulations) provides for definitions of expressions used in the Regulations. The Minister decided to amend a number of the definitions and to insert a new one (refer to amending regulation 3).
The amendments amend the definitions of “coast station, Class A (receive only)” and “coast station, Class B (receive only)” to permit those classes of licence to be used for receiving transmissions from aircraft as well as ships. The definition of “receiving land station” is also amended to broaden the current narrow meaning to include all land stations (except multipoint distribution stations) used solely for the receipt of radio transmissions. The new definition, “service area”, is consequential to the amendments to Schedule 3 of the Regulations; “service area” is given the same meaning as that in the Broadcasting Act 1942.
Regulation 4 of the Regulations provides for the payment of fees for the testing of devices against Standards made by the Minister under section 12 of the Act. The Minister decided to insert new subregulations (5), (6), (7) and (8) into regulation 4 (refer to regulation 4 of the amendments). In respect of those Standards which relate to devices which consist of both transmitters and receivers, the testing fee has been reduced to 60% of the relevant full fee, specified in Schedule 2 of the Regulations, where a device is submitted for the testing of only the transmitter or only the receiver (refer to subregulations (5) and (6)). Where a device fails initial testing and the same device is resubmitted for a second or subsequent testing of the same parts of that device within 6 months of completion of the
first test, the examination fee will be 50% of the relevant full fee specified in Schedule 2 (refer to subregulations (7) and (8)).
The Minister decided to increase the testing fees specified in Schedule 2 of the Regulations and to add a new testing fee (refer to regulation 9 of the amendments). The fees specified in Column 3 of Schedule 2 were increased by 7.5%, and the new fee is for testing a device against Ministerial Standard No.315.
The Minister also decided to amend regulation 4A of the Regulations. Regulation 4A provides for the payment of fees for the testing of devices under section 15A of the Act to determine if the Minister will issue a certificate which may be affixed to those devices stating that operation of the devices will not cause interference to radiocommunications. Paragraph 4A(5)(b) previously provided that where a device (which is both a transmitter and a receiver) is submitted for testing of the transmitter only, the fee is 70% of the relevant full fee specified in Schedule 2A of the Regulations. It was decided that this percentage be reduced to 60% so as to accord with paragraph 4A(5)(a) of the Regulations and amending subregulation 4(5).
New subregulation 4A(5A) provides that where a device is submitted for the purposes of a test, which test relates to devices which consist of both a transmitter and a receiver, and the device submitted consists of a transmitter only or a receiver only, then the fee payable is 60% of the relevant full fee specified in Schedule 2A.
New subregulation 4A(7) provides that the reduction in fees, provided for in subregulation 4A(6) of the Regulations, where a device is re-submitted for testing, does not apply where the re-test includes any part of the device that was not previously submitted for testing.
Regulation 6 of the Regulations prescribes those transmitters which, for the purposes of section 22 of the Act, are exempt from the licensing provisions in Part VI of the Act. Paragraph 6(a) of the Regulations previously provided that those devices which comply with Ministerial Standard 306 are prescribed for the purposes of section 22. The Minister decided to amend paragraph 6(a) to provide that those transmitters which comply with Ministerial Standards No.’s 241, 302, 306 and 315 are prescribed for the purposes of section 22 of the Act (refer to amending regulation 6(a).
Paragraph 6(b) of the Regulations provides that those classes of transmitters specified in Schedule 3 of the Regulations are prescribed for the purposes of section 22 of the Act. The Minister decided to completely revise the current Schedule 3 to specify further classes of transmitters and more suitable operating frequencies and powers for certain other classes of transmitters already specified in Schedule 3. Amending regulation 10 repealed existing Schedule 3 and substituted a new Schedule 3. The
new Schedule 3 does not lead to any increase in the levels of interference to radiocommunications services and obviates the need for individual licences for the transmitters specified. Any transmitters located in Australia before 1 December 1989 which, by virtue of the previous Schedule 3, were exempt from licensing and which, because of the changes to Schedule 3, would no longer have been exempt from licensing, are not affected by the changes to Schedule 3 - those transmitters are also exempt for the purposes of section 22 of the Act (refer to new paragraph 6(c) of the Regulations in amending regulation 6(b)).
Amending regulation 6 also inserts a new paragraph 6(d) into the Regulations to provide that those transmitters operating at a frequency of 10500 to 10550 MHz (inclusive), where the field strength of a transmission on a carrier frequency does not exceed 115 dBu V/m at 3 metres from the antenna, are prescribed for the purposes of section 22 of the Act.
Regulation 16(c) of the Regulations previously provided that a licensee shall not, except for brief tests and adjustments, cause a carrier wave to be emitted from the transmitter on any frequency lower than 50 megahertz unless that wave is subjected to intelligible modulation. The Minister decided that this prohibition should apply to transmissions on all frequencies, not just those lower than 50MHz. Amending regulation 7 amends regulation 16(c) to remove the reference to “on any frequency lower than 50 megahertz”.
Schedule 1 of the Regulations specifies different classes of transmitters for the purposes of licensing under section 24 of the Act. Amending regulation 8 inserts a new class of licence and amends eight items in Schedule 1. The new class of licence is at item 7A and is known as “ambulatory service (low frequency)”; this class consists of an ambulatory service that operates on a single frequency not exceeding 30 MHz. The amendments to items 8, 9 and 10 restrict those classes of licence to operation on a single frequency exceeding 30 megahertz per licence. The amendments to items 19 and 20 are consequential to the amendments in amending regulation 3 of the definitions of “coast station, Class A (receive only)” and “coast station, Class B (receive only)” (refer to amending regulations 8(e) and (f)). The amendments to items 57 and 58 provide that those classes of licence will allow operation of a transmitter on a single frequency only, thereby requiring a separate licence for each operating frequency (refer to amending regulations 8(g) and (h)). An extra frequency, “156,300 KHz” has been inserted into the operating frequencies for that class of licence at item 61 (refer to clause 8(e)).