Regulatory Restraint Urged On Data Retention Regime Compliance

Sydney, 5 September 2016 – Communications Alliance urges the Federal Government to exercise regulatory restraint in the event that some telecommunications service providers are unable to fully comply with the mandatory two-year Data Retention regime by the time of the April 2017 deadline.

Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton, welcomed today’s announcement of the $128.4 million in grants to industry under the Data Retention Industry Grants Program (DRIGP).

“The Government appears to have done a reasonable job of apportioning the limited funds available, particularly among smaller providers, although some of the larger players face heavy unfunded expenses to meet their compliance requirements.

“But the lengthy delay in finalising the grants process has put many services providers under immense pressure to complete, on time, the work to enable them to comply with this regime.

“The Government should acknowledge that these delays have made compliance more difficult to achieve within the prescribed timeframe.

“The Attorney-General should publicly commit that no action will be taken, come April next year, against any service provider that is genuinely working to comply with the regime, but has been disadvantaged by the slow pace of decision-making, “Mr Stanton said.