I'd like to thank you very much for inviting us here today to discuss the amendments proposed to the Radiocommunication Act. The Radiocommunication Act regulates radio frequency spectrum. This is an important and scarce resource that is used to provide all wireless communication services to Canadians. Spectrum is increasingly a valuable resource as more and more of our communications use wireless devices. We not only use these devices to talk and text but also to access a wide variety of applications on our smart phones, all of which rely on the availability of wireless spectrum.
The wireless sector is also increasingly important to the Canadian economy and our society as it is a growing source of jobs and key to businesses and communities across the country. It is the key part of the tool set for our first responders: the police, the firefighters, and the ambulance. Industry Canada manages spectrum with licensing processes that impose terms and conditions on users. We also regulate radio equipment to ensure it meets the standards and it's safe for Canadians.
The current act provides a number of enforcement mechanisms, which are used by Industry Canada to ensure that the requirements of the licences and the standards are met. But these provisions have not been updated for 25 years and they should be modernized to keep up with the changing spectrum regulatory environment.
The amendments before you today would improve Industry Canada's existing compliance tool kit. We have a continuum from education all the way through to revoking a licence but these amendments introduce new measures. Reflecting the fact that spectrum is being used in new and innovative ways, the amendments would provide enforcement tools that are in the middle of this continuum, tools that are flexible and efficient and that will help us focus on encouraging compliance.
The primary change in the amendments today introduce an administrative monetary penalty or an AMP regime for certain violations of the act. The proposed regime would provide for penalties up to $10 million for the first violation and $15 million for a second or subsequent violation. These maximums are consistent with penalties that may be imposed by the Competition Bureau or by the CRTC with respect to the Canadian anti-spam legislation and they're also the same as those that Adam will talk to you about in his opening remarks with regard to the Telecommunications Act.
For individuals—and individuals could be someone, for example, who is using a jammer near an airport—the amounts of the AMP would be much smaller, up to a maximum of $25,000 for a first violation and $50,000 for a subsequent violation. But the amounts of any particular penalty would be determined by taking into account a number of factors such as the scope and the nature of the violation as well as the size of the violator. AMPs will not replace the existing enforcement measures available under the act but they add a more robust compliance continuum that will allow the department to apply the most appropriate measure to any given incidence of non-compliance. The first tool that we always try to use is education.
A number of additional measures are included in these amendments that are also focused on improving the compliance regime. First of all, the amendments clarify language in the act to explicitly prohibit jammers. These are devices that disrupt legitimate wireless communications. Limited exemptions to that prohibition may be made for reasons such as public safety.
Additionally, the amendments will allow Industry Canada to enforce any requirements that have been established for spectrum auctions. Spectrum auctions are a very important part of the release of new spectrum. Additional amendments will also modernize outdated language concerning inspectors' powers and allow the inspectors to gather information from computers instead of just from paper records.
Finally, the amendments would allow Industry Canada to share information with domestic and international agencies for the purpose of regulating radio communications.
For example, if we are trying to stop jammers from coming into Canada, there would be a great benefit to being able to share information with the U.S. border services. But in order to enact this part of the act, there are very strict boundaries with regard to the use of the information and the confidentiality of that information.
Those complete the amendments to the Radiocommunication Act.
Thank you very much for your time.