EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1998 No. 72
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts
Telecommunications Act 1997
Telecommunications Regulations 1998
Background
Subsection 594(1) of the Telecommunications Act 199 7 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.
Under Part 13 of the Act, telecommunications carriers and certain other persons are required to protect the confidentiality of information. Disclosure or use of protected information is authorised in limited circumstances, for example, in cases where the disclosure is reasonably necessary for the enforcement .of the criminal law (section 282 of the Act).
Subsection 282(3) does not prohibit the disclosure by a person of information or a document if an authorised officer of a criminal law-enforcement agency has certified that the disclosure is reasonably necessary for the enforcement of the criminal law.
Under paragraph (g) of the definition of criminal law-enforcement agency, in subsection 282(10) of the Act, a criminal law-enforcement agency includes "a prescribed authority established by or under a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory".
The purpose of the Telecommunications Regulations 1998 (the Regulations) is to specify the Police Integrity Commission of New South Wales (PIC) as a "prescribed authority" under this provision for the purposes of seeking disclosures under subsection 282(3) of the Act.
The PIC is established by the Police Integrity Commission Act 1996. The principal functions of the PIC are to detect, investigate and prevent serious police misconduct. The PIC is currently, for the purposes of section 282 of the Telecommunications Act 1997, not specified as a criminal law-enforcement agency. The Regulations will put the PIC's requests in line with requests by the police and other similar investigative bodies.
Details of the Regulations are as follows:
Regulation 1: Citation
The regulation provides that the Regulations may be referred to as the Telecommunications Regulations 1998.
Regulation 2: Commencement
The regulation states that the Regulations commence on Gazettal.
Regulation 3: Definition
The regulation defines that, in the Regulations, reference to the "Act" means the Telecommunications Act 1997.
Regulation 4: Criminal law-enforcement agencies
The regulation provides that the Police Integrity Commission of New South Wales be specified as a criminal law-enforcement agency for the purposes of section 282 of the Act.