Your responsibility
If you are a supplier of road vehicles or approved road vehicle components, it is your responsibility to inform the Department within two days after taking recall action. You can notify us by lodging a recall notice through our online portal ROVER.
You will need to create a user account to use ROVER prior to accessing it for the first time.
A supplier is the entity that supplies (or agrees to supply, or resupplies)—by way of sale, exchange, lease, hire or hire-purchase—a road vehicle or approved road vehicle component. Suppliers can include manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers. There can be more than one supplier responsible for a particular road vehicle or approved road vehicle component.
When to notify the department
Under the RVS legislation, we are responsible for administering and enforcing the framework for the recall of road vehicles and approved road vehicle components that are unsafe or do not comply with applicable standards.
Our Recalls Policy outlines your obligations and provides step-by-step guidance for recalls.
- Recalls Policy: Road Vehicles and Approved Road Vehicle Components
- Supplier's guide to vehicle recalls
When to notify the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission
Road vehicles and approved road vehicle components may also be consumer goods under the Australian Consumer Law.
If you are recalling a road vehicle or road vehicle component, you should notify us through our online portal ROVER. You are not required to notify the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) under an Australian Government arrangement to avoid duplication.
However, there are a number of vehicle-related recalls that are not administered by the Department under the RVS legislation, and which need to be notified to the ACCC:
- Vehicles that are not road vehicles but are classified as consumer goods, e.g. golf carts, miniature motor bikes, motorised mobility devices, quad bikes.
- Vehicle accessories (i.e. after-market parts that are not intended to be integrated into the road vehicle), that are consumer goods, e.g. child car restraint, portable ramp, recovery strap, bike carrier.
- Caravans and campers where the safety issue is not related to the vehicle itself but with human occupation, e.g. fridge, stove in caravan.
The ACCC will also continue to administer the compulsory Takata airbag recall.
The ACCC has guidance available for suppliers to voluntarily initiate their own recalls after becoming aware that one or more of their products presents a safety risk.
For assistance in completing the submit a recall form, you should contact the ACCC.