Mahuta Nanaia: Telecommunications Amendment Bill (No 2) Radiocommunications Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
Mahuta Nanaia: Telecommunications Amendment Bill (No 2) Radiocommunications Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
[Volume:634;Page:6107] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Customs) 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister of Communications 
: I move  
That the Telecommunications Amendment Bill (No 2) and the Radiocommunications Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a third time.  
These bills have arisen from the Communications Legislation Bill which was initiated to improve the overall regulatory environment for both telecommunications and radiocommunications. It will be no surprise that an efficient and effective communications sector is recognised as being essential to support the economic and social outcomes to which this Government is committed. These bills continue the Government’s progress towards ensuring that the communications sector continues to deliver those broader outcomes. 
These bills are relatively minor pieces of legislation designed to maintain the effective and efficient operation of the communications sector. They contain largely technical measures that preclude unintended consequences correct certain anomalies in the wording of the present legislation and resolve some timing issues. The measures are narrow in scope but none the less are of an urgent nature. There were no fundamental concerns raised in submissions during the select committee process but rather the process led the Commerce Committee to make improvements in some areas of the legislation. The committee gave a unanimous report back. 
A robust up-to-date communications sector is an essential part of an innovative growing economy. The bills maintain a commercial environment of certainty and confidence for telecommunication services and in the use of the radio frequency spectrum. This will benefit both producers and consumers of goods and services be they providers of telecommunication services radio spectrum licensees customers viewers or listeners. 
The amendments to the Telecommunications Act are simply to prevent the premature expiry of the regulation of 10 specific telecommunications services. I reiterate the Minister’s comments made in earlier readings of the Communications Legislation Bill that this legislation is not related to the decisions being made on the broader telecommunications stocktake which is being considered under separate telecommunications amendment legislation at present before the Finance and Expenditure Committee. These broader changes will deliver much greater benefits and will necessarily be considered in depth before the select committee reports back to this House. This underlines the wisdom of proceeding with the more limited but relatively urgent amendments in this legislation. 
Without any further action regulation of these particular telecommunications services would expire in December 2006. The Government’s intention to continue this regulation was signalled with the introduction of the Communications Legislation Bill and this signal improved the level of certainty in the industry. The certainty has increased as the provisions have progressed through the parliamentary process. The extension by 2 years of the regulation of these services is entirely consistent with the recent report by the Commerce Commission. Submissions to the select committee were supportive and no submissions were received opposing the proposal. I understand that the select committee gave a unanimous report back supporting the 2-year extension. The only issue therefore is to determine the best process to achieve that outcome. 
The Telecommunications Amendment Bill (No 2) will create the greatest certainty in the earliest possible time frame and is therefore to be preferred. There is no reason why this House should not accept the collective wisdom of all parties concerned and enact this legislation. Under the present Act the Commerce Commission can recommend that regulation be extended or even discontinued. There is already a process consequently that gives the necessary flexibility in a relatively fast-moving telecommunications environment. Extension of the regulation on the 10 services until 2008 is necessary and is achieved through this legislation. 
The amendments in the Radiocommunications Amendment Bill (No 2) are intended to keep the Radiocommunications Act up to date and to incorporate improvements that have been found necessary. The rights of existing licence holders who are complying with the requirements under their licence and the requirements of the Act and regulations will not be affected adversely by this legislation. The fundamental concepts in the present Act of a dual regime of administered radio licences and a parallel commercial property rights system are not changed by the legislation. However the legislation will bring the two regimes closer together in respect of licences that may be issued in the future. 
In addition to this certainty will be provided regarding certification of licences by approved radio engineers. The main amendments to the Radiocommunications Act concern criteria for certification of licences aggregation of consecutive management rights and extension of applicability of existing arbitration procedures. The provisions of the legislation will improve and clarify the requirements for certification of licences. The purpose of certification is to ensure that pre-existing licences are not adversely affected by any proposed new licence. As such it is a technical process of evaluation conducted by approved radio engineers. 
What the Act does and what the Radiocommunications Amendment Bill (No 2) clarifies is establish exactly what criteria should or should not be taken into account in the certification process. Specifically the bill establishes a process whereby regulations can be created to define inappropriate receivers which need not be taken into account in certification. Making provision in certification for poor-quality or otherwise inappropriate receivers can limit the spectrum available for new licences and lower the economic utilisation of the radio frequency spectrum as a whole. There are obvious reasons why New Zealand should ensure that the full potential of the radio spectrum is available for use and this legislation facilitates that objective. It establishes a process whereby inappropriate receivers once defined by regulation are not to be taken into account in certification of new licences. Submissions on the Communications Legislation Bill were supportive of this approach and indeed some sought a wider approach. Useful additions were suggested by the New Zealand Law Society to clarify the purpose of defining inappropriate receivers and the Minister is certainly pleased to see these reflected in the legislation. 
A further issue raised in submissions was specifically in regard to receivers in imported vehicles designed for use in Japan and the potential prohibition of such receivers. I note the select committee commentary that this can be better approached as a consumer information issue and the committee makes a suggestion on how this could be achieved. Certainly the Minister concurs with this viewpoint which is also consistent with a recent declaratory judgment in relation to the narrow issue of certifying VHF FM broadcasting licences. However the legislation provides a framework for defining inappropriate receivers for any radiocommunications service not simply those receivers used for FM broadcasting. 
The present Radiocommunications Act provides for the management rights and underlying spectrum licences to be created for periods of up to 20 years. This gives certainty of investment for services using the radio spectrum. In addition management rights termed successive management rights can be created prior to the expiry of existing rights. 
There is so much more to include in the third readings but I will cut to the conclusion. These bills are important in the overall context of an efficient and effective communications sector. They are recognised as being largely technical in nature but are critical to maintaining and improving the efficiency of the communications sector. They address key issues in telecommunications and radiocommunications both of which are of crucial importance to the information age and to continuing to grow an innovative economy. The principle of the bills is not controversial. It is designed to extend existing regulation of a narrow range of telecommunications services for a further 2 years; to confirm the legal certainty that the radio frequency spectrum can be fully used despite potential use of inappropriate radio receivers by some parties; to open the opportunity for arbitration of potential disputes between holders of radio licences rather than place reliance on decisions made by the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Economic Development to cancel or otherwise impose changes on such licences; and finally to enhance the regime of the Radiocommunications Act in several minor but significant ways thereby improving radio spectrum utilisation and the overall economic benefits of such use. Therefore I commend the bills to the House.