Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Communications and the Arts
On 6 December 2017, the Government introduced the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Foreign Media Ownership, Community Radio and Other Measures) Bill 2017.
Among other measures, the bill once enacted, establishes a Register of Foreign Ownership of Media Assets (Register), to be overseen and administered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Foreign persons would be required to register information about their company interests in Australian media companies, where the company interests exceed a specified threshold (two and a half per cent).
The Department of Communications and the Arts prepared a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS), which was assessed by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) as compliant, but not best practice under the Governments RIS requirements because there was not sufficient consultation with affected stakeholders and the RIS did not demonstrate the preferred implementation option would result in the highest net benefit.
The RIS estimates that the changes will increase average annual regulatory costs for businesses by $24,700. The OBPR agreed to this estimate.