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+--- Thread: AUSTRALIA CHANGING TERMS OF RECIPROCAL LICENSES (/thread-940.html)
AUSTRALIA CHANGING TERMS OF RECIPROCAL LICENSES - VK4ADC - 21-03-2020
AUSTRALIA CHANGING TERMS OF RECIPROCAL LICENSES
The Newswest broadcast team in Western Australia have alerted that Amateurs holding a licence in Australia, which was obtained under a reciprocal licencing arrangement, have now had their licence term shortened to one year and they are no longer automatically renewable.
The ACMA, Australia's national regulator's action impacts the apparatus licence for Hams wishing to operate in Australia for more than 3 months but has no impact on the 3-month allowance given to operators on holiday in Australia operating under the CEPT agreement.
ACMA states on their website that they now require holders of any licence issued under a reciprocal agreement to sit the Amateur Operator's Certificate of Proficiency examination before their licences can become annually renewable. The examination is taken through the Australian Maritime College at a cost of 90 Australian dollars.
PLEASE NOTE:-
The ACMA has since updated its position on "grand-fathering-in" of existing licensees. Those in Australia who obtained their Australian license based on a foreign qualification before 19th September 2019 will be able to continue renewing their license each year.
The 12-month limit only applies to reciprocal licenses issued since September 2019.
From text edition for 2020 MARCH 22 - VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA : http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/wianews/
Also in MP3 edition of news available at: http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2020-03-22.mp3