Less than three weeks after publishing the Electronic Communications (EC) Amendment Bill, the Department of Communications (DOC) has withdrawn the legislation.
The department today announced its wish to withdraw the Bill with immediate effect.
“This is done to allow further consultation within government on the contents of the Bill.”
It adds that once this process is concluded, the Bill would again be published to solicit further input from the broader ICT industry and affected stakeholders.
“I am delighted that the Bill has been withdrawn; it is dangerous to change legislation without good cause and without sufficient public consultation,” says Democratic Alliance shadow minister of communications Natasha Michael.
“Technology moves at such a rapid rate that we have to ensure that all legislation and amendments take this into account. Cyber security is a huge concern and we need to concentrate on ensuring that criminals don't benefit from being tech-savvy.”
Strengthening minister
The DOC gazetted the Amendment Bill for public comment on 4 November.
The Bill aims to amend the 2005 Electronic Communications Act to “give clarity and to strengthen the powers, role and the functions” of the minister and the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA).
The department said the Bill “intends to improve the turnaround times for consultation processes; to make provision for policy on ownership and control; and to revise the role of the minister and the authority regarding frequency spectrum management”.
In addition, the legislation seeks to refine licensing issues, improve the “competition provisions”, and remove regulatory challenges and “any other issues around the matter”.
Public loss
The proposed amendment was slammed since it will trim ICASA's ability to act in the best interests of citizens.
It moves too much power into the hands of the minister, currently Dina Pule, and takes away some of ICASA's independence.
In addition, the changes create a conflict of interest as they pave the way for the minister to favour entities in which government has a stake when valuable spectrum is allocated, according to Kathleen Rice, director of technology, media and telecommunications at law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr.
Kate Skinner, coordinator of the SOS: Support Public Broadcasting campaign, says the Bill removes a significant amount of power from ICASA. She explains that, for example when managing spectrum, the regulator is now obliged to follow the minister's policy directives.
Previously, says Skinner, ICASA only had to take the policy directives into account when allocating spectrum.
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