Australia's encryption laws are very difficult to understand and could result in tech entrepreneurs serving jail time, according to the final round of submissions on the government's assistance and access legislation.

Business groups have warned the federal government the amendments to the laws, which were passed in December, are "difficult to understand and interpret" and don't help the tech industry's worries about the fallout.

Credit:Reuters

The policy, which allows ASIO to compel businesses to help decrypt messages in order to fight serious crime, are currently open for a final round of submissions despite already being law. This is because of the way the legislation was passed in 2018, where a series of amendments were passed without full debate but with the promise of a review in 2019.

Cryptography experts have taken this opportunity to warn the government the laws still don't make it clear when a developer would have to act to help with a law enforcement operation.