The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has been scrutinising the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014 since December, holding a number of public hearings where it heard from civil liberties, privacy, media and lawyer groups that the laws needed to change or be scrapped. Law-enforcement and intelligence agencies also attended, but said they believed the legislation was sound and therefore did not need to be altered. As it stands, law-enforcement and intelligence agencies are able to access our metadata – who we call and who calls us, as well as internet records – without a warrant. And they want this to continue. Agencies said the new laws were only meant to ensure the "status quo" would remain – that is telecommunications companies continue to store phone and internet records and didn't delete them like some have done as they no longer require them for business purposes. Despite this, Fairfax Media understands that the PJCIS, due to table its findings by mid-afternoon on Friday, has listened to some concerns from critics of the scheme and will recommend that: Agencies granted access to the data are specified in legislation rather than regulation (regulation can be altered by the attorney-general of the day without a parliament vote);

Parties to civil court cases should be prevented from obtaining access to the data unless the bill's regulations allow it;

If the data is stolen, telcos should be required to report the breach to customers and government;

Data stored should be encrypted by telcos to prevent hackers from trawling through it if stolen.

About 40 recommendations are understood to have been made in total, many being minor, with one insider commending the process of the committee as one of the "most effective" in their time in parliament. Attorney-General George Brandis will be expected to respond to the PJCIS report and outline which recommendations, if any, the government will take up. A spokesman for Mr Brandis told Fairfax Media there was no set time or date for a response to the recommendations. But using the first two tranches of national security legislation as a guide, it is not likely for a response to be made on the day the report is released. Regardless, the government has set down Tuesday next week as when it wants to resume debate on the bill in the House of Representatives.

If the recommendations are adopted, opponents of the scheme are likely to still be unhappy with it. Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, who has been voicing his concern about it, is likely to vote it down completely, along with the Liberal Democratic Party's David Leyonhjelm. Prime Minister Tony Abbott wants Labor's support to pass the bill through parliament before the end of March. Any recommendations taken up will have to be introduced by way of amendments to the bill, introduced into the House of Representatives by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull in late October. The cost to set up the data retention scheme also remains a key concern for telecommunications providers, and it appears the PJCIS has not made any recommendations on this. Mr Abbott has indicated the total cost to set up the scheme could total $400 million for the entire industry. The government commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to identify the cost but has not released the report, citing cabinet confidentiality and commercial in confidence reasons.