Members of the New Zealand Telecommunications Forum (formerly the Telecommunications Carriers’ Forum, or TCF) are to perform annual self-certification checks as an additional layer of compliance to the industry’s self-imposed code of practice.

Known as the Code Compliance Framework (CCF), the new system has been introduced to provide an extra layer of assurance to the government and telecommunications users, although the exact metrics of the checks are yet to be confirmed.

David Stone, CEO of the TCF, says the CCF will give greater credibility to the industry’s self-regulation system.

"It is an acknowledgement that if a telco is willing to sign up to a code, the TCF will ensure they remain compliant with their obligations,” Stone says.

As well as self-certification, the CCF includes a ‘compliance management process’ that allows signatories to the code to draw the TCF’s attention to any suspected breaches by other signatories.

Any breaches that are found as a result can be punished through a ‘name and shame’ approach ranging from publishing details on the TCF website to full media announcements.

The TCF includes Vodafone, Telecom, 2degrees, Chorus, TelstraClear, Kordia, CallPlus and others. Implementation of the CCF is expected to take at least a year. Check out the TCF website for more.