Telecommunications Legislation and Connected Vehicles

Connected vehicles use mobile technologies to share data and communicate with the driver and other wireless services. There are a range of connected vehicles currently on the market, with those numbers expected to grow into the future.

Both the automotive industry and the department generally agree that manufacturers and distributors of connected vehicles, as well as companies that manufacture and provide services for after-market connectivity, are considered CSPs under section 87 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. This is because they usually provide ongoing access to a carriage service via subscriptions to vehicle connectivity.

CSPs must comply with various regulatory obligations related to competition, consumer protection and the national interest.

We want your thoughts on whether CSP obligations should apply to distributors and manufacturers of connected vehicles and how we should manage the application of obligations if they do. Interested parties can provide responses to the questions set out on pages 14 and 15 of the Discussion Paper.

The aim of this process is to provide certainty for industry, and to support the roll out of connected vehicles across Australia, while ensuring that telecommunications regulatory obligations are directed to the right parts of the industry.

Relevant documentation

Telecommunications Legislation and Connected Vehicles

Australian Privacy Principle 5 Notice

Telecommunications Legislation and Connected Vehicles

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (the department) is collecting information for the purposes of reviewing carrier service provider obligations that may be attached to the manufacturers and distributors of connected vehicles, or after-market units that connect vehicles to the internet, in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988.

The department will use this information to inform consideration of issues associated with carrier service provider obligations that may be attached to the manufacturers and distributors of connected vehicles, or after-market units that connect vehicles to the internet and will store this information securely. It may be used by the department to make further contact with you about the review.

The department will not disclose information to third parties, except in the circumstances outlined below.

Submissions, in part or full, including the name of the author may be published on the department's website unless the submission is confidential. Confidential submissions (including the author's name) will not be published. Private addresses and contact details will not be published or disclosed to any third parties unless required by law.

Submissions will only be treated as confidential if they are expressly stated to be confidential. Automatically generated confidentiality statements or disclaimers appended to an email do not suffice for this purpose. If you wish you make a confidential submission, you should indicate this by ensuring your submission is marked confidential.

Confidential submissions will be kept securely and will only be disclosed in the following circumstances:

• in response to a request by a Commonwealth Minister
• where required by a House or a Committee of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia
• where required by law.

The department may also disclose confidential submissions within the Commonwealth of Australia, including with other Commonwealth agencies, where necessary in the public interest.

Please note that in order to protect the personal privacy of individuals in accordance with the Privacy Act any submissions containing sensitive information, personal information or information which may reasonably be used to identify a person or group of people may not be published, even if not marked as confidential.

The department’s privacy policy contains information regarding complaint handling processes and how to access and/or seek correction of personal information held by the department. The Privacy Officer can be contacted on (02) 6274 6495 or by email: privacy@infrastructure.gov.au