The Australian government has introduced amendments to the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code. According to Australian minister for communications Paul Fletcher, these amendments are designed to provide clarity to digital platforms and news media businesses about the way the Code is intended to operate and strengthen the framework for ensuring news media businesses are fairly remunerated.
These amendments will make it clear that a decision to designate a platform under the Code must take into account whether a digital platform has made a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Australian news industry through reaching commercial agreements with news media businesses.
A digital platform will be notified of the Government’s intention to designate prior to any final decision – noting that a final decision on whether or not to designate a digital platform would be made no sooner than one month from the date of notification.
The amendments also stipulate that non-differentiation provisions will not be triggered because commercial agreements resulted in different remuneration amounts or commercial outcomes that arose in the course of usual business practices; and final offer arbitration is a last resort where commercial deals cannot be reached by requiring mediation, in good faith, to occur prior to arbitration for no longer than two months.
The government believes that these amendments will strengthen the hand of regional and small publishers in obtaining appropriate remuneration for the use of their content by the digital platforms. The Explanatory Memorandum will confirm that the Code only applies to the extent a digital platform is making covered news content available through those services.
These amendments are also designed to encourage parties to engage in commercial negotiations outside the Code.
The Government also reports it has been notified by Facebook that it intends to restore Australian news pages in the coming days.
