Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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RADIOCOMMUNICATION (LICENSING AND GENERAL) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1991 NO. 360

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Statutory Rules 1991 No. 360

Radiocommunication (Licensing and General) Regulations (Amendment)

Issued by the Authority of the Minister Transport and Communications

Subsection 93(1) of the Radiocommunications Act 1983 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of 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.

Schedule 1 to the Radiocommunications (Licensing and General) Regulations (the Regulations) specifies different classes of licence for the purposes of licensing under section 24 of the Act.

The amending Regulations create two new classes of licence for the purposes of licensing base stations operated for the purposes of providing public mobile telecommunications services by a person who holds a public mobile licence under section 57 of the Telecommunications Act 1991. The new licence classes are 'public mobile telecommunications service, Class A' for base stations operating on a frequency or frequencies in the range 870 MHz to 890 MHz; and 'public mobile telecommunications service, Class B' for base stations operating on a frequency or frequencies in the range of 935 MHz to 960 MHz.

Subsection 24(4) of the Act provides that a transmitter licence comes into force on the day on which it is granted and, subject to the Act, remains in force until the expiration of the day specified under subsection 24(5).

Subsection 24(5) of the Act provides that a transmitter licence shall specify as the day of expiration of the licence

(a)       ... ; or

(b)       if a period of longer than 12 months is prescribed in relation to all transmitter licences or in relation to a class of transmitter licences in which that licence is included - a day within that longer period.

Regulation 5B of the Regulations previously provided that for the purposes of subsection 24(5) of the Act, the period of 2 years is prescribed in relation to all transmitter licences.

Regulation 5B has been amended to provide that licences granted under either of the two new transmitter licence classes referred to in amending regulation 4 (new items 71A and 71B of Schedule 1 to the Regulations) may be granted for any period, from the commencement of these amendments, which does not extend beyond 30 June 1997.

This extension of licence periods is also applies to licences falling within the licence classes specified at items 11 and 22 to 27 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations (various classes of earth station licence) where those licences are granted to a person, who holds a general telecommunications licence or a public mobile licence under section 57 of the Telecommunications Act 1991, for the purposes of providing services under such a telecommunications licence.

Section 23 of the Act makes it an offence to operate, or possess for the purpose of operation, a radiocommunications transmitter without a licence.

Section 22 of the Act provides that for the purposes of the Act, "radiocommunications transmitter" does not include a transmitter included in a prescribed class of transmitters. In other words, "prescribed transmitters" are exempt from the licensing provisions of the Act.

Regulation 6 of the Regulations prescribes classes of transmitters for the purposes of the definition of "radiocommunications transmitter" in section 22 of the Act.

Regulation 6 has been amended to prescribe, for the purposes of the definition of "radiocommunications transmitter" in section 22 of the Act, any mobile station which is operated solely for the purpose of communicating with a base station which forms part of a service provided under either of the new licence classes referred to in amended regulation 4, provided that such a mobile complies with AUSTEL standard TS 005 or TS 018, whichever is applicable.


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