Internet Industry Association

Similar to previous obligations under Schedule 5 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, the Restricted Access Systems Declaration 2007 provides that, after receiving a complaint and investigating a piece of content, ACMA may require the content service provider to either remove the content or place the content behind specified access restrictions.

The Declaration specifies the requirements for compliant access restrictions.

The Declaration aims to allow adults to read, hear and see what they want while protecting children from exposure to inappropriate content.

The Declaration commences on 20 January 2008 and was developed following extensive consultation with carriage service providers, industry associations, content service providers from across a range of media, private individuals, privacy advocacy organisations, consumer organisations and regulatory bodies.

The Declaration will apply to internet content, live content via internet, mobile or fixed phone, mobile premium services including mobile portal content and premium SMS/MMS content and premium rate services.

Telephone sex services will be subject to the Declaration from 20 July 2008 when provisions of Part 9A of the Telecommunications governing such services are repealed.

The Declaration forms part of a new content regulatory framework in Schedule 7 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 which is also to commence on 20 January 2008.

On that date, the current restricted access arrangements applying to stored internet content under Schedule 5 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and the restricted access provisions applying to mobile content under the Telecommunications Service Provider (Mobile Premium Services) Determination 2005 (No.1) will be repealed.

The Telecommunications Service Provider(Mobile Premium Services) Determination 2005 also includes rules relating to:

• the provision of information to mobile customers about the costs and terms and conditions of use for mobile premium services and the handling of complaints about mobile premium services;
• how mobile chat service providers can minimise the risk of mobile chat services being used to facilitate illegal contact between children and adults.

These rules are unaffected by the changes and continue operating in conjunction with the industry self-regulatory scheme, the Mobile Premium Services Industry Scheme.

ACMA also amended the Telecommunications Numbering Plan 1997 to specify an obligation on carriage service providers to use numbers beginning with 195 and 196 only for the provision of access to R18+ content and commercial MA15+ delivered via premium SMS and MMS;this obligation was previously specified in the Telecommunications Service Provider (Mobile Premium Services) Determination 2005.

The Restricted Access Systems Declaration 2007 and the amendments to the Telecommunications Service Provider (Mobile Premium Services) Determination 2005 and the Telecommunications Numbering Plan 1992, together with their corresponding explanatory statements, are available from the ACMA website at http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_310905

- and will be available from the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments website at www.frli.gov.au in early January 2008.