Proposed 2023–24 fees for service

On 17 November 2023, the Minister for Communications approved the Cost Recovery Implementation Statement: Fees for radiocommunications, telecommunications and broadcasting services, budget year 2023–24 (the Fees CRIS). 

After considering submissions received to this and the amateur radio assessor accreditation and qualification framework consultation, the ACMA has:

• introduced several new charges to enable the ACMA to charge, on a cost recovery basis, for providing amateur radio call sign and qualifications services
• imposed only one charge to apply for recognition of prior learning under the Radiocommunications (Amateur Stations) Class Licence 2023 (the Amateur Stations Class Licence), because the ACMA will recognise the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunication Administrations (CEPT) Harmonised Amateur Radio Examination Certificates (HAREC) licences as equivalent to the ACMA recognition certificate (Advanced) 
• imposed a charge for applications for contest call signs assigned under the Amateur Stations Class Licence, for clarity
• has not imposed a charge for assigning a replacement call sign under the Amateur Stations Class Licence
• introduced charges in relation to area‑wide receive licences and made consequential amendments to the existing charges for area-wide licences, as originally proposed. 

Responses to the submissions are available at Appendix B of the Fees CRIS.

As an Australian Government agency, the ACMA is required to define and implement, where feasible, charges for recovering the costs of its products and services, in accordance with the Australian Government Charging Framework.

We are consulting on our activities for radiocommunications, telecommunications and broadcasting services that are subject to charging arrangements. 

There are a number of new charges, including:

• charges for the issue and variation of an area‑wide receive licence (AWRL) to support the allocation of area-wide licences (AWL) in the 3.8 GHz band in metropolitan and regional areas 
• charges associated with the ACMA considering applications for amateur radio recognition of prior learning, and for issuing amateur radio qualifications and call signs.

The amateur radio charges support the proposed new amateur radio qualification framework and assessor accreditation arrangements, on which the ACMA is currently consulting.

Full information can be found in our draft 2023–24 Fees for Service Cost Recovery Implementation Statement (Fees CRIS), which reflects the financial and non-financial performance information and details our fees for 2023–24, and our accompanying consultation paper.