EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Approved by the Australian Communications and Media Authority
Radiocommunications (Receiver Licence Tax) Act 1983
Radiocommunications (Receiver Licence Tax) Amendment Determination 2019 (No. 2)
Authority
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) has made the Radiocommunications (Receiver Licence Tax) Amendment Determination 2019 (No. 2) (the Amendment Determination) under subsection 7(1) of the Radiocommunications (Receiver Licence Tax) Act 1983 (the Tax Act) and subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (the AIA). Subsection 7(1) of the Tax Act provides that the ACMA may determine the amount of tax in respect of:
- the issue of a receiver licence;
- the anniversary of a receiver licence coming into force; and
- the holding of a receiver licence.
Subsection 33(3) of the AIA provides that when an Act confers a power to make an instrument, that power shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be construed as including a power exercisable in a like manner and subject to like conditions, to amend that instrument.
Purpose and operation of the instrument
The Amendment Determination amends the Radiocommunications (Receiver Licence Tax) Determination 2015 (the Tax Determination) which sets the taxes for receiver licences which are apparatus licences. The Tax Determination sets out the different amounts of receiver licence tax that the ACMA has determined are payable by licensees of particular apparatus licences for receivers.
On 25 January 2019, the ACMA made the Radiocommunications (Receiver Licence Tax) Amendment Determination 2019 (No.1) (the First Amendment Determination) which amended the Tax Determination to increase all taxes (except for fixed receive licences below 960 MHz in remote density areas) by the consumer price index of 2.1%. The explanatory statement for the First Amendment Determination details the amendments made by that instrument. The First Amendment Determination was registered on 30 January 2019 and commenced on 31 January 2019.
Table 402 of Schedule 2 of the Tax Determination was repealed and substituted by the First Amendment Determination. The table as substituted incorrectly refers to some frequency ranges in column 1. The purpose of the Amendment Determination is to correct the references to those frequency ranges.
The changes to taxes made by the First Amendment Determination and the Amendment Determination affect licences issued or renewed on or after 5 April 2019 and licences issued after the commencement of the First Amendment Determination which come into force on or after 5 April 2019.
A provision-by-provision description of the Amendment Determination is set out in the notes at Attachment A.
The Amendment Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 (the LA).
Documents incorporated by reference
The Amendment Determination does not incorporate any documents by reference.
Consultation
The ACMA did not consult on the Amendment Determination because it only corrects a minor drafting error with references to frequency ranges made in the First Amendment Determination.
The ACMA consulted prior to making the First Amendment Determination. A description of the consultation undertaken can be found in the Explanatory Statement to that instrument.
Regulatory impact assessment
The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) has not considered the impact of the Amendment Determination on regulatory burden as it merely corrects a drafting matter and will not have a significant impact on regulation in Australia.
The OBPR has previously considered the routine annual escalation of licence tax rates by CPI and formed the opinion that no regulatory impact analysis is required. The OBPR reference number is 2011/12297. As these changes are minor and preserve the price structure for space system receive licences the ACMA has had in previous years, no OBPR preliminary assessment is required.
Statement of compatibility with human rights
Subsection 9(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 requires a rule maker in relation to a legislative instrument to which section 42 (disallowance) of the LA applies, to cause a statement of compatibility with human rights to be prepared in respect of that legislative instrument. This statement has been prepared in accordance with that requirement.
Overview of the instrument
The Amendment Determination is made under subsection 7(1) of the Tax Act and amends the Tax Determination to correct the frequency ranges in Table 402 of Schedule 2 of the Tax Determination.
Human rights implications
The ACMA has assessed whether the Amendment Determination 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 Amendment Determination 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 Amendment Determination is compatible with human rights and freedoms as it does not raise any human rights issues.
Attachment A
Notes to the Radiocommunications (Receiver Licence Tax) Amendment Determination 2019 (No.2)
Section 1 Name
This section provides for the instrument to be cited as the Radiocommunications (Receiver Licence Tax) Amendment Determination 2019 (No. 2).
Section 2 Commencement
This section provides that the Amendment Determination commences at the start of the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.
Section 3 Authority
Section 3 provides that the Amendment Determination is made under subsection 7(1) of the Radiocommunications (Receiver Licence Tax) Act 1983.
Section 4 Amendments
Section 4 provides that Schedule 1 of the Amendment Determination amends the Tax Determination.
Schedule 1 Amendments
Items 1 to 3
Items 1 to 3 amend Note 2 to each of subsections 8(1), (2) and (3) of the Tax Determination to omit the words “as amended by the Amendment Determination” and substitute “as in force on or after the amendment day”. The purpose of these amendments is to clarify that in the circumstances described in each of those notes, the tax payable is determined in accordance with the Tax Determination as in force on the day the tax is imposed – that is, the Tax Determination as in force on or after the amendment day, which is defined as the day on which the First Amendment Determination commenced. This would include the amendments made by the Amendment Determination and any other subsequent amendments that may be made to the Tax Determination.
Item 4
Item 4 substitutes Table 402 (and its accompanying note) in Part 4 of Schedule 2 of the Tax Determination, which sets out the amount of tax for each kHz of bandwidth for earth receive and space receive licences specified in that Part. The amendment corrects the drafting to ensure that the frequency ranges used to differentiate prices in Table 402 are consistent with the ranges as specified in Table 402 prior to the amendment made by the First Amendment Determination. The frequency ranges >8.5-14.5 GHz and >14.5-31.3 GHz have been amended to >8.5-17.3 GHz and >17.3-31.3 GHz. No other changes to Table 402 have been made.