Heavy Vehicle (General) National Regulation

This Regulation may be cited as the Heavy Vehicle (General) National Regulation.

A provision of this Regulation commences in a participating jurisdiction on the day on which the provision of the Law for the purposes of which the provision is made commences in that jurisdiction.

Note—

In this Regulation, a reference to ‘the Law’ is a reference to the Heavy Vehicle National Law. See section 12(2) of Schedule 1 of the Heavy Vehicle National Law.

In this Part—

Assessor Accreditation Rules means the Assessor Accreditation Rules (July 2007) made by the National Transport Commission, as amended from time to time.

Guidelines for Determining National Operating Conditions means the Guidelines for Determining National Operating Conditions (July 2007) made by the National Transport Commission, as amended from time to time.

HML declaration means an HML declaration under section 12 of the Heavy Vehicle (Mass, Dimension and Loading) National Regulation.

infrastructure standard has the meaning given by rule 22 of the Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules.

operating condition means an operating condition made under the Guidelines for Determining National Operating Conditions.

PBS assessor means a PBS assessor accredited under Part 2, Division 5.

PBS vehicle certifier means a PBS vehicle certifier accredited under Part 2, Division 5.

physical testing requirement see section 10(2).

Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules means the Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules as at 10 November 2008 made by the National Transport Commission, as amended from time to time.

Vehicle Certification Rules means the Vehicle Certification Rules (July 2007) made by the National Transport Commission, as amended from time to time.

An application for a PBS design approval made under section 22 of the Law must be—

in the approved form; and

accompanied by—

an assessment of the design the subject of the application, carried out by a PBS assessor; and

the prescribed fee for the application.

The Regulator may, by notice given to the applicant for the PBS design approval, require the applicant to give the Regulator any additional information the Regulator reasonably requires to decide the application.

Example of additional information—

The Regulator may ask the applicant to obtain additional parameter sensitivity analyses conducted by a PBS assessor in relation to the design.

Before approving or rejecting an application for PBS design approval, the Regulator must give a copy of the application to the PBS Review Panel.

The PBS Review Panel must, as soon as practicable after receiving the application—

review the application having regard to—

any approved guidelines relevant to the grant of PBS design approvals; and

the Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules; and

any operating conditions relevant to the application; and

advise and make recommendations to the Regulator about the matters mentioned in paragraph (a).

For the purposes of section 22(2) of the Law, in assessing an application for a PBS design approval, the Regulator must have regard to the following—

the approved guidelines for granting PBS design approvals;

the Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules;

the advice of the PBS Review Panel in relation to the application.

The Regulator must decide an application for a PBS design approval as soon as practicable after receiving the PBS Review Panel’s advice and recommendations under section 5.

This section applies in relation to an application for a PBS design approval if the Regulator considers it is likely that a heavy vehicle built to the design the subject of the application will not comply with the Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules only because it will not comply with 1 or more infrastructure standards.

If the Regulator approves the application, the approval must state that any PBS vehicle approval for a heavy vehicle built to the design is subject to a condition that the vehicle may only be operated under an agreement made with—

if a road authority for a jurisdiction is responsible for the roads on which the vehicle is likely to be operating—each responsible road authority; and

if 1 or more road managers are responsible for the roads on which the vehicle is likely to be operating—each responsible road manager.

This section applies in relation to an application for a PBS design approval if the Regulator considers that a heavy vehicle built to the design the subject of the application—

is not likely to comply with 1 or more standards under the Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules; and

will not pose any additional risk to safety or infrastructure than would be posed by a heavy vehicle—

that does comply with the standards; or

that would comply with the standards if particular conditions were imposed on the use of the vehicle and were complied with.

Examples—

1 The Regulator may consider that while a heavy vehicle built to a design does not comply with a standard under the Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules, it will not pose any greater risk than a heavy vehicle that complies with the standard because it will considerably exceed the requirements of another related standard in a way that offsets the failure to comply with the standard.

2 The Regulator may consider that a heavy vehicle built to a design does not comply with safety standard C2 (Gradeability) under the Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules. However, it is only intended to run on relatively flat roads and can do so as safely as a vehicle that complies with that standard if its operation is restricted to specified roads that are known to be relatively flat.

3 The Regulator may consider that a heavy vehicle built to a design does not comply with a standard under the Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules. However, the design does meet the purpose and intent of the standard and the vehicle will not pose any greater risk than a vehicle that complies with the standard.

If the Regulator approves an application to which subsection (1)(b)(ii) applies, the approval must state that any PBS vehicle approval given for a heavy vehicle built to the design is subject to the particular conditions referred to in that subsection.

If the Regulator approves an application to which subsection (1)(b)(i) or (ii) applies, the Regulator must publish the following on the Regulator’s website—

the type of heavy vehicle to which the design relates;

the standards under the Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules with which a heavy vehicle built to the design is not likely to comply;

the reasons the Regulator considers the noncompliance will not pose any additional risk to safety or infrastructure as described in subsection (1)(b);

if the approval states that a PBS vehicle approval given for a heavy vehicle built to the design is subject to particular conditions under subsection (2)—a brief description of the conditions.

Subsection (3) does not authorise the Regulator to disclose any identifying details of the applicant, the design to which the approval relates, or any other confidential or commercially sensitive information.

A PBS design approval must state—

the name and address of the person to whom the approval is given; and

for an approval of an application mentioned in section 8 or 9—the standards with which the design is not likely to comply.

Also, the approval must state the following (each a physical testing requirement)—

if the design the subject of the approval has features that the Regulator considers are significantly novel—that before a heavy vehicle built to the design is certified by a PBS vehicle certifier, the vehicle must be assessed by physical testing carried out by a PBS assessor to determine whether the vehicle complies with the Standards and Vehicle Assessment Rules;

if the approval relates to an application to which section 9(1)(b) applies—that a heavy vehicle built to the design must be assessed by physical testing carried out by a PBS assessor to determine whether the vehicle will pose any additional risk to safety or infrastructure as described in that section.

This section applies to a PBS design approval if the design to which the approval relates is for a type of heavy vehicle fitted with a quad-axle group.

The approval must state that any PBS vehicle approval given for a heavy vehicle built to the design that allows a mass of more than 20t on the quad-axle group is subject to the following conditions—

the quad-axle group must be fitted with a certified road-friendly suspension system;

all axles in the quad-axle group must be fitted with dual tyres;

the axles in the quad-axle group must relate to each other through a load-sharing suspension system within the meaning given by section 33(2) of Schedule 2 of the Heavy Vehicle (Vehicle Standards) National Regulation;

if the quad-axle group is fitted with a retractable axle, the retractable axle must comply with ADR 43/04;

the quad-axle group must be fitted with either—

a steerable axle with no less than 12º steering articulation and an effective automatic centering mechanism; or

another steering mechanism proven to be effective in mitigating the impacts of road scrubbing by tyres;

the operator of the vehicle must have mass alternative compliance accreditation.

In this section—

certified road-friendly suspension system has the meaning given by section 3 of the Heavy Vehicle (Mass, Dimension and Loading) National Regulation.

mass alternative compliance accreditation has the meaning given by section 3 of the Heavy Vehicle (Mass, Dimension and Loading) National Regulation.

steerable axle means a single axle that connects the wheels of a vehicle to a steering mechanism for the vehicle.

If the Regulator refuses an application for a PBS design approval, the Regulator must give the applicant an information notice for the decision to refuse the application.