1Australian Communications Authority (Recovery of Pecuniary Penalties) Direction No. 1 of 1999

Commonwealth of Australia

Australian Communications Authority Act 1997

Australian Communications Authority (Recovery of Pecuniary Penalties) Direction No. 1 of 1999

I, RICHARD KENNETH ROBERT ALSTON, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, under subsection 12 (1) of the Australian Communications Authority Act 1997, direct the Australian Communications Authority, in the exercise of its functions under section 6 of that Act when deciding whether to institute a proceeding under section 571 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 for the recovery of a pecuniary penalty in respect of a contravention of section 158B, 158C, 158D or 158E of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999, to have regard to:

(a) practical difficulties that a telephone sex service provider or a carriage service provider may have had in upgrading its network or systems to enable it to comply with section 158B, 158C, 158D or 158E of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999;

(b) whether the failure of the provider to comply with one or more of those sections was due to the need to avoid making major changes to its network or systems in order to ensure stability of the network or systems during the period beginning on 1 December 1999 and ending on 15 March 2000; and

(c) any other relevant matters.

In this Direction:

carriage service provider has the same meaning as in the Telecommunications Act 1997.

telephone sex service provider has the same meaning as in the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999.

Dated 21 September 1999.

RICHARD ALSTON

Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts