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Consultation on Revised Accounting Separation Direction

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On 27 June 2007, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts announced that the Australian Government is considering winding back the current accounting separation reporting requirements.

These requirements chiefly apply to Telstra. Other carriers also provide accounting separation reports to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on competition in the corporate segment of the telecommunications industry.

The Australian Government invites submissions to the draft Direction below. Submissions are due by Monday 29 October 2007. Please send any submissions to:

Via email:
opsep@dcita.gov.au

Via Post:
Operational Separation
Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
GPO Box 2154
Canberra ACT 2601
Australia

Via Fax:
02 6271 1850

Proposed Changes

The Australian Government considers that it would be appropriate to make changes to the accounting separation arrangements so as to remove or streamline those elements which have been effectively superseded by operational separation, or whose continued implementation would require a significant expenditure of resources by the ACCC and industry. The proposed changes would represent a reduction in industry reporting requirements.

The Australian Government is considering removing the following reporting requirements:
current cost account reports;
reports on non-price terms and conditions; and
reports on competition in the corporate segment of the industry.

The Australian Government intends to leave in place for the present historic cost account reports and reporting on Telstra’s wholesale and retail margins on voice and ADSL services (imputation testing).

The draft Direction would implement these proposed changes by amending the existing direction to the ACCC. A draft Explanatory Statement is also provided.

History

Accounting separation was introduced in 2002. Part XIB of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA) was amended to require the Minister to issue a ‘special Telstra direction’ dealing with Telstra’s wholesale and retail operations.

The Minister issued the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (Accounting Separation—Telstra Corporation Limited) Direction (No. 1) 2003, which required the ACCC to establish a new accounting separation reporting framework.

Document ID: 75265 |
Last modified: 5 February 2008, 8:23pm