Move forms part of National Services Transition Project
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government general regulatory service is about to relinquish its heavy vehicle on-road compliance and enforcement services, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) reports.
Bar the more minor responsibilities, those duties set to be transferred from Access Canberra to the national regulator as planned.
“The NHVR’s safety and compliance officers will be authorised to stop heavy vehicles to check compliance with the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL), driver licences, registrations and road rules,” it says.
The NHVR will also take on responsibility for issuing major, minor and self-clearing defects notices.
Self-clearing defect notices – introduced to the ACT for the first time – will be issued for faults that don’t pose a safety risk but still need to be rectified as soon as practicable.
Access Canberra will continue to clear major and minor defects for ACT-registered vehicles.
Other responsibilities remaining with Access Canberra will be:
• licensing and registration services
• roadworthiness checks for heavy vehicle registration purposes
• accepting payment of infringement notice penalties
• sale of National Written Work Diaries.
The National Services Transition Project (NSTP) commenced in South Australia in July 2016, finishing October 2017.
Find more details on the South Australian transition, here
In July 2018, Tasmania was the second jurisdiction to transition all heavy vehicle regulatory services.
Alongside the ACT, the NHVR says it is now working closely with New South Wales and Victoria with full transition to occur at different stages over the next two years.
Queensland will be the final state to transition services, at this stage scheduled for 2020-21.
“In addition to the above changes, amendments to legislation are scheduled to occur from 1 July 2019 to have the same national heavy vehicle fatigue laws in the ACT as in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania,” NHVR adds.
“This means that drivers will have to comply with the maximum work and minimum rest requirements for their work and rest hour options prescribed in the HVNL.”