You will generally be notified within 20 working days of receipt of your completed vehicle import application of the decision to approve or refuse your application. The Department aims to process applications sooner than this.

Circumstances that may prolong the assessment of an application include:

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of a departmental review of a vehicle import application, you can seek a review of the decision by the Administrative Review Tribunal.

The Tribunal is independent of the department. The Tribunal provides merits review across a wide range of administrative decisions made by Australian Government Ministers, departments, agencies, authorities and other tribunals.

What will happen with my report?

Your report will be assessed by a Departmental officer to decide if it will be investigated. Even when an investigation is not undertaken, the information you provide in your report will help the Department to identify ongoing and widespread safety issues in motor vehicles across Australia. Information gathered from the online safety reporting form may also be used for auditing and investigation purposes. All reports are kept securely on file within the Department and used to analyse trends or identify reoccurring issues over time.

The Second Edition Australian Design Rules (ADRs) are national vehicle standards that first came into effect on 1 January 1969. They were endorsed by the then Australian Transport Advisory Council. The Second Edition ADRs were selectively applied by each state and territory for vehicles manufactured from 1 January 1969.