The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today issued draft legislative instruments—decision-making criteria and procedural rules—seeking stakeholders' views on the access regime that will apply to digital radio.
Digital radio licences will be allocated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority to joint venture companies¬—'multiplex licensees'—who will operate the digital radio transmission equipment in each licence area. Once these digital radio licences are allocated by ACMA, the licensees must lodge an access undertaking with the ACCC.
The access undertakings will specify the manner in which the multiplex licensees are to provide access to transmission capacity to individual digital radio broadcasters in each licence area.
"The ACCC will be responsible for assessing the access undertakings submitted by the licensees," ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today. "The ACCC will also have an ongoing role in overseeing the access regime, including any subsequent variations of undertakings. The ACCC has determined draft decision-making criteria and procedural rules in advance to facilitate the access undertaking assessment process.
"The decision-making criteria have been made to promote transparency in decision making by setting out the criteria that the ACCC must apply in deciding whether to accept an access undertaking or a variation of an access undertaking. The object of the procedural rules is to promote the expeditious and efficient exercise of the ACCC's functions and powers."
The ACCC is seeking submissions from interested parties on the draft legislative instruments. It requests that any submissions be made by close of business on 28 April 2008. After final decision-making criteria and procedural rules are issued, the ACCC will hold a public consultation process on the access undertakings, once received from multiplex licensees.
Copies of both the decision-making criteria and procedural rules will be available on the ACCC's website.
Submissions can be made to: Director, Convergence, Communications Group, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, GPO Box 520, Melbourne, VIC 3001. Submissions can also be lodged by email to digitalradio@accc.gov.au.