Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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MOTOR VEHICLES STANDARDS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1992 NO. 222

STATUTORY RULES 1992 No. 222

ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR LAND TRANSPORT

MOTOR VEHICLES STANDARDS ACT

MOTOR VEHICLES STANDARDS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)

Paragraph 42(a) of the Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of prescribing matters required or permitted to be prescribed by the Act.

The Act provides for the making of uniform national standards in relation to motor vehicles and for the placing of compliance plates on new and imported vehicles when they begin to be used in transport in Australia for the purposes of establishing that the vehicles comply with the national standards. National standards, known as the Australian Design Rules, are determined under section 7 of the Act.

Section 10 of the Act provides that the Regulations are to provide for arrangements under which plates which indicate that vehicles comply with the national standards are placed on vehicles. Regulation 5 provides arrangements for persons to make applications to place compliance plates on a specific road vehicle or on road vehicles of a particular type and for the authorising of the placing of compliance plates by the Minister.

The proposed amendments will clarify the arrangements under which compliance plates may be placed on vehicles which are not manufactured or imported into Australia in large numbers by enabling the Minister to accept alternative information to establish that vehicles comply with the national standards. The integrity of the standards regime is maintained as the applicants must establish that the vehicles do in fact comply with the national standards before a compliance plate can be fitted.

Section 18 of the Act prohibits the importation of road vehicles that are nonstandard or do not have a compliance plate. Paragraph 20(1)(b) provides that a person may import a nonstandard road vehicle or a road vehicle that does not have a compliance plate in prescribed circumstances. Subsection 20(3) provides that regulations prescribing the circumstances in which such road vehicles may be imported may provide for the importation of a vehicle with the written approval of the Minister and subject to written conditions determined by the Minister.

At present regulation 9 of the Motor Vehicle Standards Regulations (the Regulations) provides that the importation of a vehicle which has been owned and used overseas by the importer who is an Australian citizen or a permanent resident (the personal import scheme) is a prescribed circumstance for the purposes of section 20 of the Act.

The amendments to the Regulations will prescribe further circumstances in which the importation of road vehicles that are nonstandard or do not have a compliance plate will be allowed.

Details of the proposed amendments to the Regulations are as follows :

Regulation 1 provides that the amendments will commence on 1 July 1992.

Regulation 2 identifies the Motor Vehicle Standards Regulations as the Regulations which are being amended.

Regulation 3 inserts new subregulations (5A) and (5B) into regulation 5.

Regulation 5 provides the arrangements under section 10 of the Act for the placing of compliance plates on road vehicles which comply with the national standards. Subregulation 5(2) requires that an application for authority to place compliance plates on vehicles must be accompanied by information that is sufficient to indicate compliance with the national standards, including information indicating compliance with any relevant procedures determined by the Minister under section 9 of the Act which relate, inter alia, to the testing and inspection of road vehicles.

The relevant testing procedures often involve high cost plant and equipment and tests which usually lead to the destruction of the vehicle under testing. Usually the costs of these tests are able to be amortised over a large production run of vehicles, if manufactured in Australia, or the large number of imported units, if imported for the general vehicle market. Where vehicles are not produced in large numbers, or the market for them is quite small, the costs of establishing compliance with the national standards by the conventional testing procedures for these "low volume" vehicles cannot be amortised over a significant number of units and is therefore prohibitive. The proposed amendments would allow the use of alternative information to establish that the vehicles do in fact comply with the national standards.

Regulation 3.1

Inserts new subregulations (5A) and (5B). Subregulation (5A) provides that where an application is not accompanied by information that would establish compliance with the testing procedures, the Minister may give authority for the placing of compliance plates on vehicles of that type if the Minister is satisfied that road vehicles of that type are not supplied to the market in substantial numbers, and that the application is accompanied by information which does establish that the vehicles do in fact comply with the national standards.

New subregulation (5B) provides that where a person is given authority to place compliance plates on vehicles of a particular type on the basis of alternative testing information the Minister may specify the maximum aggregate number of compliance plates which that person is authorized to place on vehicles of any type in one year. This ensures that where a person is in fact dealing with a large number of vehicles, although of different types, as the costs will be able to be spread over a large number of units of road vehicles they will be required to comply with all testing procedures.

Regulation 4 omits regulation 9 and substitutes new regulations 9, 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, 9E, 9F, 9G and 9H. These new regulations prescribe the circumstances under section 20 of the Act in which a person may import a road vehicle that is nonstandard or does not have a compliance plate.

New regulation 9 provides that a person may import a road vehicle that is nonstandard or does not have a compliance plate if the Minister has approved an application to import the vehicle.

New regulation 9A is a mechanical provision which provides that a person may apply to import such a vehicle. New regulation 9B provides that the Minister may approve such an application by signed instrument, and the approval is subject to such conditions as are specified in the instrument.

New regulation 9C prescribes as a circumstance under section 20 of the Act as where a vehicle which does not have a compliance plate, complies with the national standards, and did in fact comply with the standards when first manufactured. This circumstance applies to vehicles which were originally built to Australian specifications and therefore do not present any road safety implications . Importation under this circumstance requires that the applicant is old enough to hold an appropriate licence to drive the vehicle, and that the applicant has not imported any other vehicle in the preceding year.

New regulation 9D provides that the Minister must approve the importation of personal imports by Australian citizens or permanent residents of nonstandard or non compliance plated vehicles. To establish that a vehicle is a personal import the applicant must have owned and used the vehicle for a continuous period of 3 months. As the personal imports may be nonstandard new paragraph 9D(d) provides that the Minister may impose safety requirements in respect of the vehicle.

New regulation 9E provides for the approval to import low volume road vehicles (new subregulation 5(5A)). The Minister may approve an application to import a vehicle that does not have a compliance plate where the Minister is satisfied that the importer has entered into a binding arrangement with the holder of an approval to place compliance plates on vehicles of that type under subregulation 5(5A) to do all things necessary to ensure that the vehicle complies with the national standards.

New regulation 9F provides that the Minister must approve an application to import a vehicle if the vehicle is 15 or more years old.

New regulation 9G provides that the Minister may approve an application to import a road vehicle that is nonstandard or does not have a compliance plate.

New regulation 9H provides that the Minister may approve an application to import a nonstandard road vehicle which the applicant has undertaken will be dismantled and be sold as vehicle components.

New regulation 91 provides that the Minister may revoke an approval to import a vehicle if the approval was subject to a condition and the person fails to comply with the condition.

The proposed Regulations will commence on 1 July 1992.