ACMA wants carriers to be more upfront with consumers

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 04 June 2006 17:23

IT Policy - Regulation

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has introduced measures designed to encourage more consistent practices by the telecommunications industry and improve information for consumers about changes to a standard form of agreement.
Standard forms of agreement are commonly used to set terms and conditions for a range of services provided to consumers.

"These new measures are designed to ensure that consumers are given reasonable notice of changes to the terms and conditions of their services, where the changes are likely to be detrimental," said Chris Chapman, ACMA chairman."The measures put the onus on providers to determine what is reasonable in advising customers of changes to terms and conditions of standard forms of agreement. In determining what is reasonable ACMA considers that industry should look to the notification provisions set out in the [ACIF-developed] Consumer Contracts Code for guidance."

He added that the ACMA would like to see the telecommunications industry develop a code that would provide the same notice benchmarks for all forms of consumer contracts, not just fixed term contracts.

The new measures are included in the Telecommunications (Standard Form of Agreement Information) Amendment Determination 2006, available on the ACMA website.