Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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RADIO LICENCE FEES REGULATIONS 2017 (F2017L00778)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Communications

Radio Licence Fees Act 1964

Radio Licence Fees Regulations 2017

Authority

The Radio Licence Fees Act 1964 (the RLF Act) requires commercial radio broadcasting licensees to pay licence fees in relation to their gross earnings from the broadcasting of advertisements or other matter by services provided under their licences.

Section 8 of the RLF Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the RLF Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted to be prescribed by the RLF Act, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed in carrying out or giving effect to the RLF Act.

Subsection 5(2) of the RLF Act provides that the regulations may make provision for rebates of licence fees payable by commercial radio broadcasting licensees.

The RFL Act is intended to be repealed by the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Broadcasting Reform) Bill 2017 (the Bill), resulting in the abolishment of radio licence fees payable after 31 December 2016. The Bill was introduced into the House of Representatives on 15 June 2017.

Purpose

The purpose of the Radio Licence Fees Regulations 2017 (the Regulations) is to provide for eligible licensees to claim a 100 per cent rebate of radio licence fees payable in the accounting period ending on 31 December 2016, or a day in 2017 other than 31 December. This ensures the policy objective of the Bill is achieved in the interim in the event it does not receive Royal Assent by 30 June 2017. The Regulations also set out when a licence fee rebate may be claimed and how it is calculated, and the effect of a change of eligible licensee on the rebate claimable.

The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 and commence on 30 June 2017.

Consultation

The Minister has consulted with commercial radio broadcasting licensees on the Regulations, and they fully support the Regulations.

Notes on sections

The provisions of the Regulations, and how they operate, are described in Attachment A.

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

A statement of compatibility with human rights for the purposes of Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 is set out in Attachment B.

Regulation Impact Statement

The Office of Best Practice Regulation has advised that a Regulation Impact Statement is not required for the Regulations (OBPR ID 20384).

ATTACHMENT A

Notes on the Radio Licence Fees Regulations 2017

Section 1 - Name

This section provides that the title of the Regulations is the Radio Licence Fees Regulations 2017.

Section 2 - Commencement

This section sets out the date on which each provision of the Regulations commences. The whole of the Regulations commences on 30 June 2017.

Section 3 - Authority

This section provides that the Regulations are made under the Radio Licence Fees Act 1964.

Section 4 - Definitions

This section sets out definitions of key terms used in the Regulations.

The term, 'accounting period' is be defined to mean, for an eligible licensee, either a financial year, or a 12 month period adopted by the eligible licensee under subsection 205B(2) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA). This definition reflects the fact that, under the BSA and the RLF Act, the default position is for both account keeping and radio licence fees administration to occur on a financial year basis, but that licensees may be permitted to adopt an accounting period which does not align with the ordinary financial year.

The term 'commercial radio broadcasting licence' is defined to have the same meaning given by section 6 of the BSA.

The term 'eligible licensee' is defined to mean the holder of a commercial radio broadcasting licence allocated under the BSA.

Section 5 - Application of rebate

This section sets out the licence fee rebate provided under the Regulations will apply to licence fees payable by eligible licensees for the accounting period ending on 31 December 2016, or a day in 2017 other than 31 December 2017.

Section 6 - How to claim rebate

This section sets out how eligible licensees are able to claim a rebate under the Regulations and the amount of the rebate for the relevant accounting period. Specifically, subsection 6(1) provides that an eligible licensee is able to deduct the amount of the rebate from the licence fees payable for the accounting period mentioned in section 5 and calculated on the basis of the formulae mentioned in subsection 6(2A) and section 6A of the RLF Act.

Subsection 6(2) clarifies that the amount of the rebate for the relevant accounting period is 100 per cent, and the deadline for claiming the rebate is 31 December 2017.

Subsection 6(3) provides that a licence fee rebate available for an accounting period cannot be carried over to any subsequent accounting period.

Section 7 - Effect of change of licensee

This section provides that the licence fee rebate that may be claimed under the Regulations remains the same even if there is a change in the eligible licensee. This provision ensures that a new holder of a licence to which the rebate scheme applies will be eligible to claim the 100 per cent rebate delivered by the Regulations.

         ATTACHMENT B

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Radio Licence Fees Regulations 2017

The purpose of the Radio Licence Fees Regulations 2017 (the Regulations) is to provide for a 100 per cent rebate to be available for eligible commercial radio broadcasting licensees for an accounting period ending on 31 December 2016, or a day in 2017 other than 31 December, in contemplation of the licence fees payable after 31 December 2016 being permanently abolished as soon as possible following 30 June 2017 (refer Schedule 5 to the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Broadcasting Reform) Bill 2017).

The effect of the Regulations is limited to holders of commercial broadcasting radio licences. The Regulations have no impact on any natural persons in the capacity of licensee as only qualified companies are eligible to hold such licences.

The Regulations are compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. This is because the Regulations do not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms, nor do they raise any human rights issues.

No human right issues were raised during consultation on the Regulations.

Conclusion

The Regulations are compatible with human rights as they do not raise any human rights issues.