Australia: ACMA Telecommunications Equipment Rules Update

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has opened a public consultation on proposed amendments to the rules governing telecommunications customer equipment supplied in Australia. Rather than introducing a single new standard, the consultation packages together changes to two existing technical standards and to the labelling and record keeping instrument that sits above them. For manufacturers, importers, test laboratories, and certification bodies, the most consequential elements are not headline grabbing they are the compliance administration changes that determine how long records must be kept and which handsets can still be lawfully supplied.

Regulatory context: why the ACMA is acting now

The proposals do not arrive in isolation. They follow a sustained period of regulatory pressure on mobile device emergency calling reliability in Australia. The shutdown of the Telstra and Optus 3G networks in late 2024 exposed a population of handsets that were VoLTE capable for ordinary calls but could not reliably reach the Triple Zero (000) emergency call service, prompting new obligations on carriers to identify, notify, and stop supplying service to affected devices. A subsequent Optus emergency calling outage in September 2025 associated with failed Triple Zero calls and multiple deaths intensified scrutiny of the entire chain from network operator to handset compliance.

Against that backdrop, the ACMA's equipment-side response is to tighten the supplier facing obligations that determine whether a device can lawfully enter the Australian market at all. The consultation should therefore be read primarily as an emergency calling integrity and market surveillance measure, not merely a routine standards refresh.

What the ACMA telecommunications equipment rules consultation proposes

The consultation covers three connected instruments. The precise instrument titles and clause-level detail should be confirmed against the consultation paper itself, but the proposed direction is clear from the ACMA's own framing and contemporaneous reporting:

1. Amendments to the Mobile Equipment Air Interface Technical Standard. The proposals would require mobile phones to comply with the latest emergency-calling requirements in the applicable air-interface industry standard (the AS/CA S042 series), reinforcing the link between market access and Triple Zero access. This is paired with a proposal to limit the grandfathering arrangements that currently allow older handset designs to continue being supplied under earlier standard versions.

2. Amendments to the Customer Equipment Safety Technical Standard. This element concerns the electrical-safety standard for audio/video and ICT equipment. AS/NZS 62368.1:2026 was published by Standards Australia on 6 March 2026, superseding AS/NZS 62368.1:2022, and the consultation addresses how and when the mandated safety reference transitions to the newer edition.

3. Amendments to the Telecommunications Labelling Notice (TLN 2025). The headline administrative change is a proposed extension of the compliance record-keeping obligation from two years to seven years. For importers and manufacturers, this is a material change to documentation retention practice and to how long evidence of conformity must remain retrievable and audit-ready.

Technical and scope detail

The three strands affect different parts of a supplier's compliance file:

• Air-interface / emergency calling. Devices connecting to public mobile telecommunications services are already assessed against the AS/CA S042 air-interface standards. The proposal moves the mandated baseline to the current emergency calling requirements and narrows the ability to keep supplying legacy designs, closing a route by which non conforming or "grey-market" handsets can reach networks.

• Electrical safety. Suppliers relying on AS/NZS 62368.1:2022 test evidence will need to plan a transition to AS/NZS 62368.1:2026. Retesting or gap assessment may be required depending on the design and the national variations referenced in the report.

• Record-keeping and labelling. The extension to a seven year retention period lengthens the window in which the ACMA can request compliance records during market surveillance, and correspondingly lengthens the period for which suppliers must preserve declarations, test reports, and supporting documentation.

  
  

What this means for manufacturers

If the proposals are adopted, manufacturers and importers of telecommunications customer equipment particularly mobile phones should prepare for the following:

1. Emergency-calling conformity becomes a gating item. Confirm that handset designs meet the latest AS/CA S042 emergency-calling requirements, including camp on behaviour, rather than only ordinary VoLTE call capability.

2. Grandfathering can no longer be assumed. Designs previously supplied under earlier standard versions may lose their transitional cover. Audit the current portfolio for models that depend on grandfathering to remain on the market.

3. Safety evidence must transition to AS/NZS 62368.1:2026. Review existing AS/NZS 62368.1:2022 safety reports and scope any delta testing needed to move to the 2026 edition.

4. Record retention must extend to seven years. Update internal document control and archiving policies so that declarations, test reports, and compliance records are retained and retrievable for the longer period.

5. Labelling and declaration practices may change. Verify that supplier declaration of conformity (SDoC) and RCM labelling processes remain aligned with the amended TLN once finalised.

6. Engage during the consultation. Where a proposed transition date or grandfathering cut-off would create commercial disruption, the submission window is the appropriate point to raise it with evidence.

   
   

Certification impact summary

Area	Current position	Proposed change	Who is affected
Mobile air-interface standard	AS/CA S042 series applies	Mandate latest emergency-calling requirements	Mobile phone makers/importers
Grandfathering of handsets	Legacy designs can continue under prior versions	Grandfathering to be limited	Suppliers of older handset models
Electrical safety standard	AS/NZS 62368.1:2022 mandated	Transition toward AS/NZS 62368.1:2026	All in-scope customer equipment
Compliance record-keeping	2 years	Extended to 7 years	Manufacturers and importers
Labelling Notice (TLN 2025)	Current labelling/record rules	Consequential amendments	All TLN-regulated suppliers

Timeline and required actions

Date	Event	Required action	Status
6 March 2026	AS/NZS 62368.1:2026 published by Standards Australia	Begin gap assessment vs. 2022 evidence	Confirmed
~20 July 2026	ACMA consultation opened	Review proposals against product portfolio	Confirmed (per trade reporting)
17 September 2026	Submissions close	Prepare and lodge submission	Unverified confirm on ACMA page
To be set by final instruments	Amended standards commence; grandfathering cut off; safety standard transition end	Complete retesting, update records to 7-year retention, remove non conforming stock	Pending not yet fixed