The Do Not Call Register (Duration of Registration) Specification (No. 1) 2010 (Amendment No. 1 of 2012) extends the current registration period for domestic telephone numbers from 5 years to 6 years.

The Register commenced on 31 May 2007 and the Do Not Call Register Act initially prescribed numbers entered on the Register were to remain in force for three years. The term was later changed to 5 years and numbers will begin to automatically fall off the Register from 31 May 2012 if they are not re-registered.

The Government is currently examining options for maintaining the accuracy of the Register without the need for periodic re-registration. The extension of the registration period by an additional twelve months will allow further time for a detailed consideration of these options.

The Specification extends the period for which numbers on the Register remain in force to six years, and operates to:

• automatically extend the registration period for numbers on the Register at the time the Specification commences so that their registration remains in force for six years from the date of their registration; and
• provide that numbers registered subsequent to the commencement of the Specification have a registration period of six years.

If you enter into an agreement with another party to make calls for your business, you must ensure that they are aware of their responsibility to comply with the Do Not Call Register Act (DNCR Act).

Under section 12 of the DNCR Act, you must include an express requirement in the agreement that they comply with the DNCR Act.

You should also be aware that under section 139 of the Telecommunications Act 1997, you must include an express requirement in your telemarketing or fax marketing agreements that the other party must comply with Part 6 of that Act, which concerns industry codes and standards.

The current relevant industry standard is the Telecommunications (Do Not Call Register) Telemarketing and Research Calls) Industry Standard 2007.

In Australian Communications and Media Authority v FHT Travel Pty Ltd [2011] FCA 550 the Federal Court found that FHT Travel Pty Limited (FHT Travel) and its sole director Yvonne Earnshaw breached the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 by making, or causing to be made, more than 12,000 marketing calls in less than a month to people who had placed their telephone numbers on the Do Not Call Register.

The Court ordered FHT Travel to pay a civil penalty of $120,000 to reflect the serious nature of the offence. Injunctions were granted restraining both FHT Travel and Ms Earnshaw from being engaged in any business which relies upon the regular use of telemarketing calls, without first advising ACMA in writing of its or her intention to do so, and providing such information concerning that involvement as ACMA may reasonably require, for a period of five years.

No penalty was imposed on its sole director as she was bankrupt.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority is developing a national standard for the fax marketing industry and has released a second discussion paper with a draft standard.

It is expected the standard will be determined in early 2011.

The standard will:

• restrict the hours and/or days during which marketing faxes may be sent, or attempted to be sent, to an Australian number
• require that a marketing fax sent to an Australian number must contain specified information about the person who authorised the sending of the fax
• restrict the total number of marketing faxes sent, or attempted to be sent, by the relevant participant during a particular period to a particular Australian number
• require that, if a marketing fax sent to an Australian number is authorised by a particular person (the authorising person), the fax must contain information about how the recipient of the fax may send a message to the effect that the recipient does not want to receive any marketing faxes authorised by the authorising person.

Interested parties are invited to comment.

The Do Not Call Register Legislation Amendment Act 2010 was assented to on 18 May and is now available on Comlaw here. The changes are expected to come into effect on 30 May 2010.

The Act allows the registration of emergency service and government phone numbers and all Australian fax numbers on the Do Not Call Register but not business phone numbers.

Sending unsolicited marketing faxes to an Australian number which is registered on the Do Not Call Register will be prohibited.

The Act also extends the current registration period for domestic numbers from 3 years with an arrangement that enables the Minister to determine the appropriate registration period, probably 5 years.

The Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee has recommended that the Do Not Call Register Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 be passed.

The Committee said that “On balance, the committee does not believe that the costs of complying with the bill will be excessive or prohibitive.” It considered that any concerns could be dealt with by ACMA.

The Do Not Call Register Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 has been introduced into Parliament.

If the Bill is passed, the Do Not Call Register will be expanded to enable all Australian telephone and fax numbers to be registered by all persons, including individuals, businesses, government and organisations.

The main elements contained in the Bill are:

• a provision that makes all Australian telephone and fax numbers eligible to register on the Do Not Call Register;
• a prohibition on sending unsolicited marketing faxes to an Australian number which is registered on the Do Not Call Register, subject to certain exemptions;
• a requirement that agreements for the sending of unsolicited marketing faxes must require compliance with the Act. This requirement is aimed at organisations which may contract with another party to provide fax marketing services on their behalf;
• civil penalty provisions for breaches of the new provisions;
• the introduction of ‘registered consent’ which will give all new registrants the option of consenting to receive telemarketing calls or marketing faxes relating to particular industry classifications at the time of listing their number on the Register. The default position will continue to be that registrants are opting out of all telemarketing calls and marketing faxes, unless they take positive action to opt-in to receive certain types of telemarketing calls and marketing faxes. Registrants will be able to change their options at any time if they later choose to opt-out of these calls/faxes;
• conferring powers on the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to make a determination setting out the industry classifications for the purposes of enabling registrants to choose the telemarketing calls and marketing faxes they wish to receive (if any);
• conferring powers on the ACMA to make a determination or determinations about the circumstances in which consent will be inferred for unsolicited telemarketing calls and marketing faxes to business numbers. This is a reserve power and there will be no change to the existing inferred consent provisions under the Act; and
• consequential amendment to Part 6 of the Telecommunications Act 1997, to allow the fax marketing industry to make industry codes, and the ACMA to make industry standards for the ‘fax marketing industry’, consistent with the existing arrangements which allow codes and standards to be made for the telemarketing industry. The ACMA will have the power to make an industry standard relating to the fax marketing industry.

It is anticipated that these arrangements will be in operation during the second half of 2010.

The Government has released a Discussion Paper reviewing the Do Not Call Register Act which allows Australians to opt out of receiving unsolicited commercial marketing (telemarketing) calls by listing their fixed line and mobile telephone numbers used primarily for private or domestic purposes.

The Discussion Paper does not deal with the Government's announced intention to expand the Register to include business numbers.

It invites comments on the operation of the Register and key elements of the legislation and discussion of options including :

• the opt-out mechanism
• the definition of consent
• the length of the registration period
• exemptions
• research calls

The closing date for submissions is 4 November 2009.