Vehicle type approval opt-in arrangements

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Opted-in vehicle type approval holders

On 1 July 2021, the Road Vehicle Standards Act 2018 (RVSA) replaced the Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989 (MVSA).

Until 31 December 2021, eligible holders of some approvals under the MVSA could transition to a RVSA vehicle type approval via an opt-in process.

Eligible MVSA approval holders could have their existing approval taken to be a road vehicle type approval, in force for 5 years, without providing supporting documentation at the time they applied.

Opted-in vehicle type approval holders' obligations

Vehicle type approval holders under the RVS legislation, including those who opted-in, are expected to comply with conditions ensuring that:

  • at the time their vehicle(s) were entered on the Register of Approved Vehicles (RAV), they complied with the applicable national road vehicle standards in force at the time
  • a conformity of production system has been implemented
  • errors in information entered on the RAV are notified to the department
  • when requested by the department, they allow access or make suitable arrangements to provide information or inspections to ensure ongoing compliance with their approval
  • all records of the original and subsequent versions of the supporting information for the approval are kept up to date while the approval is in force, and for 7 years after it expires, or it is revoked.

If you fail to keep your approval up to date and comply with the applicable national road vehicle standards, the department may suspend your approval.

Should this happen, you would be unable to add vehicles to the RAV while your approval is suspended, and therefore unable to provide road vehicles of the type covered in your approval to the Australian market.

Varying an opted-in vehicle type approval for the first time

Approval holders may need to vary an opted-in vehicle type approval for a range of reasons, including to:

  • demonstrate compliance with a new or revised Australian Design Rule (ADR)
  • add or remove variants of the road vehicle type an approval covers
  • add or remove facilities involved in the design, componentry and manufacture of road vehicles covered by the approval
  • update Quality Management System (QMS) documents, and/or
  • in some cases, provide evidence and change information about their extent of compliance with individual applicable ADRs.

When you apply to vary your opted-in approval for the first time you will also be required to provide additional information to complete your vehicle type approval in ROVER, including compliance information for ADR 61/03 and road vehicle descriptors (RVDs) for all vehicles covered by the approval.

For some approval holders, their first application to vary an opted-in vehicle type approval will also be their first experience with making declarations and providing supporting information and documents according to the Road Vehicle Standards (RVS) legislation.

The Guide to varying an opted-in approval for the first time explains why ROVER requires applicants to provide certain types of information and gives practical guidance on how to use the ROVER system when applying.

Important: We strongly advise you do not apply to vary your opted-in approval without reading the guide carefully. To ensure a smooth process, you may be advised to enter your vehicle variants in batches. If you do not follow the sequence of application actions recommended in the guide you may have to restart your application.

Please read the guide in conjunction with the Guide to varying approvals in ROVER, which explains the broad requirements for varying approvals under the RVS legislation.

Applying for an expiring opted-in vehicle type approval

You can apply for a new vehicle type approval to replace an opted-in approval at any time before it expires in 2026, but you won’t be able to select a future commencement date. Therefore, you may wish to apply for a replacement approval closer to the time when the opted-in approval expires.

You can retain your existing approval number. You will need to make this request in your application and for the department to revoke your opted-in approval, as both approvals cannot be in force at the same time.

Please read the Guidance note—Applying to continue supply of a vehicle covered by an opted-in vehicle type approval for more information.

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