Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]

TELECOMMUNICATIONS (STANDARD AGREEMENTS) REGULATIONS 1997 NO. 349

Statutory Rules 1997 No. 349

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts

Telecommunications Act 1997

Telecommunications (Standard Agreements) Regulations

Section 594 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.

Section 479 of the Act allows a carriage service provider (defined in section 87 of the Act, and in general, includes persons who supply, or propose to supply, carriage services to the public using networks in relation to which a carrier license is held) to use a standard form of agreement as a contract with customers for a standard telephone service (as defined in section 17 of the Act) and for such other canine services or goods or services for use in connection with a carriage service as are specified in the regulations.

Subsection 479(2) of the Act provides that the existence of a standard form of agreement does not preclude alternative terms and conditions being agreed between the pal ties and provides a fallback should the parties not be able to agree. Section 480 of the Act requires carriage service providers to make standard forms of agreement publicly available and section 481 of the Act requires them to file standard forms of agreement with the Australian Communications Authority.

The purpose of the accompanying regulations are to enable carriage service providers to use standard forms of agreement with their customers, not only for the supply of a standard telephone service as specified in the Act, but also for the supply of other mass market, carriage services and ancillary goods and ancillary services as specified in the proposed regulations. These include:

* handset rentals;

* services capable of data transmission such as Fax Stream;

* services which use tone dialling such as pay by phone;

* telephone information services (0055/1900);

* Freecall 1800;

* Dial It Information;

* Telecard; and

* EasyCall.

The regulations overcome the need for a carriage service provider to enter into separate agreements with each of its customers. Given that many contracts with customers on the terms and conditions of supply of a particular service or goods by a carriage service provider would be identical, standard forms of agreement offer the potential for carriage service providers to save on costs.

Regulation 1 - Citation

Regulation 1 provides for the citation of the Telecommunications (Standard Agreements) Regulations.

Regulation 2 - Definitions

Regulation 2 defines key terms used in the proposed regulations.

Regulation 3 - Carriage services

Regulation 3 specifies the types of carriage services that may be dealt with in standard forms of agreement as being:

(a)        Carriage services for voice telephony. This will include carriage services where there is a service rather than another customer at the other end. These include automatic reverse call charging services accessed by a customer on a call by call basis by dialling a non-geographic access code or an access code specific to a carriage service provider. For example, 13 and 1800 calls. Also included are services offering traffic management features to enable control of incoming calls.

(b)       Carriage services for the purposes of data transmission. These include facsimile services; dedicated data services such as 1900 services and public switched data services.

(c)        Carriage services for the purpose of tone signalling. These include pay by phone or other services that are activated by using tone signals or numbers on the telephone pad.

(d)        Carriage services for the purpose of live or recorded information services. These include telephone information services dedicated to the transmission of live or recorded voice messages, facsimiles and other computer stored information provided by independent service providers. Examples are Dial It Information, information lines and InfoFax services.

Regulation 4 - Ancillary goods

Regulation 4 specifies the types of goods for use in connection with a carriage service that may be dealt with in standard forms of agreement as being:

(a)       Goods for use in connection with a standard telephone service. For example, rental of telephone handsets and pagers; and supply of payphones.

(b)        Goods for use in connection with carriage services covered by regulation 3.

Regulation 5 - Ancillary services

Regulation 5 specifies the types of services for use in connection with a carriage service that may be dealt with in standard forms of agreement as being:

(a)        Services for use in connection with a standard telephone service. For example voice mail services for non-business customers; services allowing the customer to receive two calls on the one telephone service and alternate between callers; call barring and call diversion; telephone card services; and automatic reverse call charging services accessed by a customer to the home phone or other nominated phone.

(b)        Services for use in connection with carriage services covered by regulation 3.