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Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979

Australian law governing the lawful interception of communications and access to stored communications and telecommunications data. Applies to law enforcement agencies and telecommunications providers.

10

Rules extracted

156

Obligations decomposed

15.6x

Avg obligations per rule

🇦🇺 Australia

Jurisdiction

About this regulation

The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (TIA Act) regulates the interception of communications, access to stored communications, and the retention of telecommunications data in Australia. It imposes obligations on carriers, carriage service providers, and law enforcement agencies regarding the lawful interception framework, stored communications warrants, metadata retention, carrier assistance, data access authorisations, and oversight and reporting requirements. The Act is administered by the Attorney-General's Department and overseen by the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

What AuditDSS covers

Source

1

Regulation

Extracted

10

Rules

Decomposed

156

Obligations

15.6x

Decomposition ratio

Each rule is decomposed into an average of 15.6 atomic obligations — the smallest testable units that can be independently violated.

Fully extracted & scored

All 156 obligations have been decomposed, titled, risk-scored, and embedded for semantic matching.

Risk scoring

Every obligation in TIA Act 1979 is scored across independent risk dimensions:

W

Obligation Weight

How critical within the regulatory framework

L

Violation Likelihood

How often breached in practice

E

Enforcement Evidence

Regulator enforcement history and penalties

C

Cascade Dependency

How many obligations depend on this one

Regulatory details

Full title
Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979
Regulatory body
Attorney-General's Department
Jurisdiction
🇦🇺 Australia
Document type
act
Effective date
June 1, 1979
Issuing authority
Australian Attorney-General's Department (AGD)
Official source
View source document ↗

Who this applies to

carrierscarriage service providersenforcement agenciesintelligence agenciesissuing authorities

Key requirements

  • Interception prohibition
  • Lawful interception warrants
  • Stored communications access
  • Metadata retention
  • Carrier assistance
  • Data retention implementation
  • Data access authorisations
  • Carrier security
  • Oversight and reporting
  • Offences and penalties

Frequently asked questions about TIA Act 1979

What is TIA Act 1979?

The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (TIA Act) regulates the interception of communications, access to stored communications, and the retention of telecommunications data in Australia. It imposes obligations on carriers, carriage service providers, and law enforcement agencies regarding the lawful interception framework, stored communications warrants, metadata retention, carrier assistance, data access authorisations, and oversight and reporting requirements. The Act is administered by the Attorney-General's Department and overseen by the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

Who does TIA Act 1979 apply to?

TIA Act 1979 applies to carriers, carriage service providers, enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies, issuing authorities.

How many obligations does TIA Act 1979 contain?

AuditDSS has decomposed TIA Act 1979 into 156 atomic obligations from 10 rules. Each obligation is independently testable and risk-scored.

What are the key requirements of TIA Act 1979?

The key requirements include: Interception prohibition, Lawful interception warrants, Stored communications access, Metadata retention, Carrier assistance, Data retention implementation, Data access authorisations, Carrier security, Oversight and reporting, Offences and penalties.

How can I assess my TIA Act 1979 compliance?

Upload your compliance policy to AuditDSS. The platform maps your document against all 156 TIA Act 1979 obligations using deterministic AI scoring — not checklists or LLM summaries. You get a risk-scored gap analysis showing exactly which obligations are covered, partially covered, or missing.

Which jurisdiction enforces TIA Act 1979?

TIA Act 1979 is enforced in Australia by Attorney-General's Department.

When did TIA Act 1979 come into effect?

TIA Act 1979 became effective on June 1, 1979.

What industry does TIA Act 1979 apply to?

TIA Act 1979 is primarily relevant to the Telecommunications industry. AuditDSS covers 76 regulations in this industry sector.

Build a TIA Act 1979 compliance pack

Don't have a compliance policy yet? AuditDSS generates a complete compliance pack for TIA Act 1979 — alone or combined with other regulations your business needs. Every clause is mapped to specific obligations.

Policy

High-level commitments and governance framework covering TIA Act 1979 requirements.

Procedures

Step-by-step operational procedures to implement each policy commitment.

Forms & checklists

Ready-to-use forms, registers, and checklists for day-to-day compliance operations.

Multi-regulation

Combine TIA Act 1979 with other regulations into a single unified compliance pack for your business.

Already have a policy? Assess it against TIA Act 1979

1

Upload your document

Upload your compliance policy, program manual, or operational document. AuditDSS accepts any text-based document.

2

AI maps against 156 obligations

Your document is scored against every obligation in TIA Act 1979. Each claim is mapped to the obligation tree and evaluated for coverage.

3

Risk-scored gap report

Receive every gap ranked by risk priority with remediation guidance, enforcement evidence, and cascade impact analysis.

Related regulations in Telecommunications

Assess your TIA Act 1979 compliance

Upload your document and get a risk-scored gap analysis against 156 TIA Act 1979 obligations in under 5 minutes.