Advanced Search

Telecommunications (Payment of Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Determination 2014

Subscribe to a Global-Regulation Premium Membership Today!

Key Benefits:

Subscribe Now for only USD$40 per month.
Telecommunications (Payment of Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Determination 2014
Telecommunications Act 1997
The AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY makes this Determination under subsections 73(3) and (4) of the Telecommunications Act 1997.
Dated: 8th September 2014
Chris Chapman
signed]
 Member
 
 
Richard Bean
[signed]
Member/General Manager
 
Australian Communications and Media Authority
 
 
1              Name of Determination
This Determination is the Telecommunications (Payment of Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Determination 2014.
2              Commencement
                 This Determination commences on 1 April 2015.
 
Note 1  All legislative instruments and compilations are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments kept under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.  See http://www.comlaw.gov.au.
Note 2  On the commencement day, this Determination will replace, and continue the arrangements provided for in, the Telecommunications (Due Date for Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Determination No. 1 of 1999 and the Telecommunications (Late Payment of Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Determination No. 1 of 1999.  On that day, unless repealed or revoked earlier, the first-mentioned Determination of 1999 will be repealed by section 50 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 and the second-mentioned Determination of 1999 will be revoked by section 3 of this Determination. This Determination is substantively in the same terms as those other Determinations.
3              Revocation
                 The Telecommunications (Late Payment of Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Determination No. 1 of 1999 (FRLI No. F2005B00105) is revoked.
4              Definitions
In this Determination, unless the contrary intention appears:
ACMA means the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
Act means the Telecommunications Act 1997.
annual charge has the meaning given by subsection 73(1) of the Act.
applicant means a person who has applied for a remission of the whole or a part of an amount of late payment penalty calculated in accordance with Part 2.
commencement day means the day on which this Determination commences.
late payment penalty has the meaning given by subsection 73(1) of the Act.
previous financial year average GIC rate means the rate worked out in accordance with Schedule 1.
Part 1                 Due date for annual charge
5              When annual charge is due and payable
       For the purposes of subsection 73(3) of the Act, an annual charge is due and payable by a person 30 calendar days after the date specified on an invoice issued to the person by the ACMA.
Part 2                 Determination of late payment penalty
  
6              Late payment penalty payable
         (1)   If any annual charge payable by a person remains unpaid after the time when it becomes due for payment, the person is liable to pay to the Commonwealth, by way of penalty, an amount calculated in accordance with this Part.
         (2)   The amount is calculated, for each day the charge remains unpaid from that time, by multiplying the daily rate worked out by reference to the rate of late payment penalty mentioned in section 7 for the day by the sum of so much of the following amounts as remains unpaid:
(a)   annual charge; and
(b)   late payment penalty payable from previous days.
7              Rate of late payment penalty
In order to work out the daily rate referred to in subsection 6(2), the rate of late payment penalty is:
(a)   20% per annum; or
(b)   if, for any day, the previous financial year average GIC rate is less than 20% per annum – the previous financial year average GIC rate.
 
Part 3                 Decisions about remission of late payment penalty
8              Remission of penalty
         (1)   For the purposes of subsection 73(6) of the Act, the ACMA may remit the whole or a part of an amount of late payment penalty payable by a person.
         (2)   The ACMA may remit the whole or a part of the amount whether or not the person has applied to the ACMA for the remission.
         (3)   However, if the person applies to the ACMA for a remission:
                (a)    the application must be in writing and in a form (if any) approved by the ACMA;
               (b)    the person must comply with any request under section 9; and
                (c)    the ACMA must comply with this Part.
9              Request for additional information
                The ACMA may ask an applicant, in writing, to give it additional information to allow it to make a decision in relation to the application for a remission.
10            Consideration of the decision
         (1)   The ACMA must consider an application for a remission, and decide whether to remit the whole or a part of the amount of late payment penalty:
                (a)    if the ACMA asks for additional information ¾ within 90 days after receiving the information; or
               (b)    in any other case ¾ within 90 days after receiving the application.
         (2)   The ACMA may remit the whole or a part of the amount only if it is satisfied that:
                (a)    the failure to pay the annual charge is not because of an act or omission in the applicant’s control; or
               (b)    recovering the whole or a part of the amount is impractical.
         (3)   If the ACMA is not satisfied in accordance with subsection (2), the ACMA must refuse to remit the whole or a part of the amount.
11            Notification of decision
If the ACMA makes a decision about an application for a remission, it must give the applicant a written statement of:
                (a)    the reasons for the decision; and
               (b)    the arrangements under the Act for reviewing the decision.
Note   An application may be made to the ACMA for reconsideration of a decision about the remission of the whole or a part of an amount of late payment penalty (see section 555 of the Act and paragraph 1(d) of Schedule 4 to the Act). If the ACMA affirms or varies the original decision under section 559 of the Act, an application may be made to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of the decision (see section 562 of the Act).
Part 4                 Transitional arrangements
 
12        Annual charge unpaid as at the commencement day
If an annual charge:
(a)   became due for payment before the commencement day; and
(b)   remains wholly or partly unpaid on the commencement day;
then:
(c)   the late payment penalty payable in relation to the unpaid charge is to be calculated in accordance with Part 2 of the Telecommunications (Late Payment of Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Determination No. 1 of 1999 as if that Determination had not been revoked; and
(d)   any application for a remission of the late payment penalty is to be made and dealt with in accordance with Part 3 of the Telecommunications (Late Payment of Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Determination No. 1 of 1999 as if that Determination had not been revoked.
 
13            Due date for annual charge – invoice issued within 30 calendar days or less of commencement day
If:
(a)   the ACMA issued an invoice for an annual charge to a person within 30 calendar days or less before the commencement day; and
(b)   the charge would, but for the repeal of the Telecommunications (Due Date for Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Determination No. 1 of 1999 and apart from this section, have become due for payment on or after the commencement day;
then the time at which the charge is due and payable is to be ascertained in accordance with section 4 of the Telecommunications (Due Date for Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Determination No. 1 of 1999 as if that Determination had not been repealed.
Note  See Note 2 to section 2.    
14            Application for remission made before commencement day
 
If:
 
(a)   an application for a remission of a late payment penalty was made in accordance with Part 3 of the Telecommunications (Late Payment of Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Determination No. 1 of 1999; and
(b)   a decision about the application was not made before the commencement day;
then the application is to be dealt with in accordance with Part 3 of the Telecommunications (Late Payment of Annual Carrier Licence Charge) Determination No. 1 of 1999 as if that Determination had not been revoked.
Schedule 1        Calculation of previous financial year average GIC rate
(section 7)
  
Previous financial year average GIC rate is the rate worked out as follows:
1.             use the formula:
where:
Q1 means the average of the general interest charge rates determined under section 8AAD of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 that applied during the first quarter of the financial year that ended most recently before the day for which the rate is being worked out;
Q2 means the average of the general interest charge rates determined under section 8AAD of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 that applied during the second quarter of the financial year that ended most recently before the day for which the rate is being worked out;
Q3 means the average of the general interest charge rates determined under section 8AAD of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 that applied during the third quarter of the financial year that ended most recently before the day for which the rate is being worked out; and
Q4 means the average of the general interest charge rates determined under section 8AAD of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 that applied during the fourth quarter of the financial year that ended most recently before the day for which the rate is being worked out; and
2.             round the amount obtained using the formula in paragraph 1 to the second decimal place (For example 0.005 should be rounded upwards). 
Note   The average of the general interest charge rates determined for each quarter is published by the Australian Taxation Office on the website www.ato.gov.au, where it is referred to as ‘GIC annual rate’. That reference may be found by searching on that website for ‘GIC rates’.