Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 12 March 2008 10:41
IT Policy -
Government Tech Policy
Page 1 of 3
Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has called for greater consumer involvement in both the development of telecommunications policy and in industry self-regulation, and has accused the industry of tardiness in developing consumer protection codes.
Addressing the Australian Telecommunications Users Group (Atug) annual conference, Conroy said: "If industry self regulation is to remain a viable form of regulation for telcos it is incumbent on the industry to ensure that the interests of consumers continue to be adequately represented and protected. Unfortunately there are signs that the interests of consumer are falling behind in the current environment of increasing competition and product complexity."
Conroy said that, "to ensure that self regulation continues to adapt to emerging technology and services consumers need to be given a strong voice in the development of codes and other protections and new arrangement need to be made quickly as issues emerge and these must be reviewed regularly...In particular I want to look at ways to give consumers a more powerful voice in the development of telco policy and in particular in industry codes. The first step in this process will be for me to hear views directly and I have asked my department to arrange a forum for industry stakeholders. My preference is for this to happen sooner rather than later."
Conroy also directed criticism at The Communications Alliance, the body responsible for developing industry codes and practices, but without mentioning it by name. Noting that codes were taking up to 18 months to develop and implement he said: "From my perspective, industry does not appear to be in a hurry to ensure that protections are in place. In an industry as dynamic as the telecommunications sector it is disappointing that codes take so long to develop and it is frustrating for consumers. Industry members need to be much more responsive to the interests of consumer and respectful of their needs."
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