Regulation Impact Statement – Australian Communications and Media Authority
On 2 December 2020, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced new rules that require telecommunications providers to detect, trace and block scam calls.
Scam activity on Australian telecommunications networks is increasingly sophisticated and hard to detect. According to Scamwatch, Australians lost over $634 million to scams in 2019, with phone calls remaining a preferred contact method of scammers.
In order to mitigate consumer harm and loss caused by scam calls on Australian telecommunications networks, the ACMA prepared and certified a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) analysing options including a consumer education campaign and the imposition of enforceable obligations on industry. The option with the highest net benefit was enforceable obligations, delivering overall net benefits of $17.2m over a 10-year period.
The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) assessed the RIS as consistent with good practice against the Government’s requirements.
The RIS estimates the average annual regulatory costs at $1.4m.