24th Jun 2021, 4:48 PM – Senate Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (International Production Orders) Bill 2020 - Third Reading - Pass the bill

The majority voted in favour of a motion to pass the bill in the Senate. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill for a third time. Because the bill has already passed in the House of Representatives, it can now become law.

What does this bill do?

According to the bills digest:

The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (the TIA Act) and make consequential amendments to other Acts to introduce a framework for Australian agencies to obtain an international production order (IPO) requiring a designated communications provider (DCP) overseas to:

• intercept communications
• provide access to stored communications or
• provide access to telecommunications data.

Certain agencies will be able to apply for IPOs in relation to investigating serious offences, carrying out ASIO’s functions, and purposes relating to control orders.

IPOs will be authorised externally to the requesting agency. They will only be available in relation to providers in countries with which Australia has a bilateral or multilateral agreement on cross-border access to electronic information and communications data; that is, a designated international agreement.

The Bill will also amend the TIA Act and other Acts to ensure that Australian communications providers are not prevented from responding to incoming requests for access to electronic information and communications data from countries with which Australia has a designated international agreement.

The proposed IPO framework is intended to provide a faster alternative to the formal mutual legal assistance process for obtaining access to certain information and data held by overseas providers (and for overseas authorities to access information and data held by Australian providers).