Preparation for expansion of the Consumer Data Right to the energy and telecommunication sectors continues.

The Competition and Consumer Amendment (Consumer Data Right Measures No. 2) Regulations 2022 have been registered.

This instrument allows large energy retailers to voluntarily participate early in the consumer data right scheme (including for systems testing), ahead of data sharing obligations coming into force on 15 November 2022.

Treasury has released exposure draft amendments to the Consumer Data Right (CDR) rules and explanatory materials for consultation.

The exposure draft rules expand the CDR to telecommunications and support participation by business consumers.

The Amending Rules implement CDR in the telecommunications sector by means of sector-specific rules.

These include eligibility requirements to determine which telecommunications-sector consumers may make requests for CDR data; specification of the telecommunications data sets that must and may be shared; internal and external dispute resolution requirements for the telecommunications sector; and rules providing for the staged implementation of CDR in the telecommunications sector.

The combination of banking, energy and telecommunications data in the CDR will also generate cross-sectoral use cases and enable the development of new products and services.

The exposure draft rules also include measures to support business participation in the CDR by providing more choice over who business consumers can share their data with and for how long, as well as other operational enhancements.

Through the creation of a “business consumer disclosure consent”, businesses will be able to consent to their CDR data being shared with specified persons (such as unaccredited third parties), like bookkeepers, consultants and other advisers who are not classified as trusted advisers under the current CDR Rules. It will also allow disclosures to the wide range of software providers that offer important services to small businesses in Australia.

Before disclosing the consumer’s CDR data, accredited data recipients (ADRs) will need to take reasonable steps to confirm that the consumer is either not an individual or that they have an active ABN. The business consumer will also need to declare to the ADR that the data is being shared for a business purpose.

The maximum duration of specific use and disclosure consents given by a CDR business consumer will be extended from 12 months to 7 years.

The Amending Rules change obligations around CDR representative arrangements and CDR outsourcing arrangements (which ADRs can currently use to engage outsourced service providers) in order to assist them to provide goods and services to CDR consumers).

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