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Business Review 1996/1997
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Business Review 1996/1997
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Legislation and Enforcement
The re-organisation of the Agency's local office network into eight administrative centres was put in place at the beginning of the year. Feedback from customers indicates this was achieved with minimum disruption to service. Benefits to customers from the reorganisation are expected to become more apparent now that the new structure has had time to settle down. The processing of local standard private mobile radio applications by local technical staff continued. Work to allow the delegation of the processing of Coastal Station Radio licence applications to the administrative centres with effect from 1 July 1997 was carried out. Further delegation of licensing work is scheduled to follow. Details of the new local office structure can be found in Information Sheet RA 206 which is available from the Library.
Service to Customers
The Agency's local staff endeavour to provide customers with the highest possible standard of radiocommunications by resolving interference problems, by a continuing programme of inspections of radio installations, by educating customers in correct radio use and, where required, by enforcement action. All radio usage is covered in Agency activities, including mobile, aeronautical, maritime, broadcasting, fixed services, paging and leisure radio use. Business radio use remains the major element of planned programme work. Inspections of radio installations are a necessary ingredient because failure by one user to meet the terms of the licence may well cause interference to another.
Priorities
The Agency's priorities in dealing with interference have been set by Ministers. These are to deal first with interference affecting the emergency services; second to assist businesses affected by interference; and, finally, to deal with other interference complaints. The Agency aims to respond to all complaints from the emergency services within 24 hours, and to 98% of both commercial complaints within one week and 98% of domestic interference complaints within one month. These targets were all met during the year.
Unlicensed Broadcasters
Unlicensed broadcasters continue to cause serious interference to authorised radio users, including safety of life services. The Agency is vigorous in pursuit of those responsible. 851 raids were carried out during the year and 20 persons were convicted for their involvement with unlicensed stations.
The Agency makes full use of the powers in the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 to act against those who facilitate the operation of unlicensed broadcasters. In one case a person found guilty of running an unlicensed broadcasting station was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment suspended for two years. Another three received 120 hours community service. The Agency has also pursued those who use unlicensed stations as an advertising medium and has arranged for telephone services used by stations in their operation to be disconnected. Furthermore, those who are convicted are disqualified under the Broadcasting Act from involvement in legitimate commercial radio for a five-year period.
| Categories | No of persons prosecuted | No of persons convicted | Total of fines imposed (£) | Total of costs awarded (£) | No of forfeiture orders | No of conditional discharges | No of absolute discharges | No of admonishment (Scotland) | Warning letters sent |
| CB AM | 6 | 6 | 500 | 2050 | 5 | 4 | - | - | 15 |
| CB FM | 12 | 12 (1) | 330 | 2268 | 7 | 5 | - | 1 | 68 |
| Unlicensed Broadcasters on radio | 20 | 20(2) | 450 | 7050 | 16 | 10 | - | 1 | 15(3) |
| Cordless telephones | 2 | 2 | 750 | 720 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - |
| PMR | 4 | 4 | 750 | 740 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 23 |
| Amateur | 2 | 2(4) | - | 1150 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 4 |
| Marine | 4 | 4 | 125 | 190 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| Others | 1 | 1 | 500 | 320 | 1 | - | - | - | 4 |
| TOTAL | 51 | 51 | 3405 | 14488 | 32 | 22 | 1 | 2 | 130 |
| (1) | 1 sentenced to 18 hours Community Service |
| (2) | 1 sentenced to 8 Months' imprisonment suspended for 2 years |
| 3 sentenced to Community Service - 120 hours each | |
| (3) | Advertising on Pirate radio |
| (4) | 1 sentenced to 70 hours Community Service |
Prosecutions
The Agency always tries to persuade radio users to operate within the law. However, those who fail to do so and who deliberately flout the law, thereby putting the communications of authorised users at risk, are prosecuted - with great success. Details of the prosecutions brought by the Agency during the year and the number of users formally warned for breaches of the legislation can be found in Table 7 above.
TABLE 8: DOMESTIC TV AND RADIO INTERFERENCE PROBLEMS REPORT
| Period | APR-JUN 1996 |
JUL-SEP 1996 |
OCT-DEC 1996 |
JAN-MAR 1997 |
TOTAL 1996/97 |
| Number of reports | 1011 | 786 | 879 | 1108 | 3784 |
| Number of paid cases received | 163 | 94 | 109 | 144 | 510 |
Help to Business Users of Radio
For business users of radio who are unable to resolve intractable problems, the Agency will investigate and advise on interference problems on a repayment basis. During the financial year this service was used by 110 businesses. The charge was increased on 1 April 1997 to £50 plus VAT per hour or £1,140 plus VAT per day for the Agency's NAMAS accredited specialist mobile laboratory.
Interference to Domestic Reception
The Agency has set out in a leaflet entitled 'Advice on Television and Radio Reception' (RA 179) measures that can be taken by householders to ensure that they are receiving the best reception possible. This leaflet also aims to assist householders whose broadcast reception is affected by interference and explains what the Agency can do to resolve these problems.
Often interference problems lie outside the Agency's
statutory responsibilities and should be dealt with by private sector service engineers,
dealers and aerial contractors. These instances are usually when a radio or television has
poor immunity to unwanted signals, or inadequate aerial arrangements, as opposed to
interference from the illegal use of radio or faulty electrical apparatus.
If an interference problem cannot be solved by the private sector, then the Agency can
check viewers' and listeners' reception arrangements. There is a flat rate charge for this
service because it does not form part of the Agency's regulatory duties. The charge was
increased to £45 with effect from 1 April 1997. If a suspected source of interference is
identified, then it will be checked free of charge as part of the Agency's regulatory
work. The cost of this work is met from the BBC television licence income. From 1 April
1996 the BBC has paid the Agency direct rather than via the Department of National
Heritage as previously. The Agency is discussing with the BBC how information about
broadcast reception difficulties can be made more accessible and the service made more
effective. Details of the number of reported cases of interference can be found in Table
8.
CB and Amateur Radio
HQ staff meet amateur and CB users representatives on a regular basis. This allows the Agency to use the resources it can allocate to these services in the most effective manner.
Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM)
Staff from HQ, Baldock and the Regions have been in contact with users of ISM machines, manufacturers and the affected services to consider interference problems caused by out of specification ISM machines. The Agency is initiating a research project into the problem.
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