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ROAD TRANSPORT LEGISLATION AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2002 (NO 2) (NO 31 OF 2002)
2002
THE LEGISLATIVE
ASSEMBLY
FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL
TERRITORY
ROAD TRANSPORT LEGISLATION
AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2002 (No.2)
EXPLANATORY
STATEMENT
Circulated by authority
of
Bill Wood MLA
Minister for Urban
Services
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
ROAD TRANSPORT
LEGISLATION AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2002 (No 2)
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Overview
The Road Transport Legislation Amendment
Regulations 2002 amend the Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Regulations
2000, the Road Transport (General) Regulations 2000, the
Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Regulations 2000, the
Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Regulations 2000, and the Road
Transport (Offences) Regulations 2001.
Most of these amendments are
made under or in relation to changes made to the Road Transport legislation by
the Road Transport Amendment Act 2002 (the Act) and will provide for:
• the introduction of image retention for driver licenses and proof of
age cards in order to help combat identity fraud;
• the introduction of
a written-off vehicle register (WOVR) to help prevent the registration of stolen
vehicles; and
• the streamlining of procedures for issuing an identity
card to authorised persons for the purposes of the Road Transport Legislation.
This regulation names the amendment regulations as the Road Transport
Amendment Regulations 2002 (hereafter referred to as the Amendment
Regulations).
This regulation provides for the commencement of the changes to the Road
Transport legislation. The provisions concerned with the retention of images
(Part 2), the identifying particulars for authorised people (Regulation 11) and
clarifying the use of bus lanes (Part 5) commence on the day after notification
of the Amendment Regulations. Provisions correcting minor errors in the Road
Transport (Driver Licensing) Regulations 2000 also commence at this time.
The provisions concerned with the WOVR commence immediately after the
commencement of section 13 of the Act. This is to allow time for the
implementation of the changes required before insurers and other
‘designated persons’ have to notify the authority of written-off
vehicles. In light of the need to revoke a current exemption declaration,
regulation 10, covering the authorisation of traffic marshals, will also
commence at that time.
Specifies that the Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Regulations 1999
are the regulations being amended.
Regulation 4 –
Regulation 78 (2) (d)
This regulation corrects an error in the original
legislation by replacing ‘subregulation (d)’ with
‘paragraph (c)’.
This regulation corrects an error in the original legislation by replacing
‘subparagraph (i)’ with ‘subparagraph (iii)’.
Regulation 6 – Regulation 120 (2)
This regulation
corrects an error in the original legislation by replacing ‘subparagraph
(1) (b) (i) or (ii)’ with ‘subparagraph (1) (b) (iii) or
(iv)’.
Inserts Part 8A, Protection of photographs and signatures.
Proposed
new regulation 138A – Definitions for pt 8A – inserts
definitions for the part.
Proposed new regulation 138B –
Disclosure of photographs and signatures for proof of age cards – Act,
s 33D (1) (g) – specifies the reasons for which a photograph or
signature taken for a proof of age card may be disclosed to the registrar of
liquor licences or a public servant assisting the registrar.
This
regulation also ensures that the Office of Fair Trading is able to have access
to proof of age cards and driver licence images produced by the Road Transport
Authority (the authority) for proper administration and enforcement under the
Liquor Act 1975.
Regulation 8 – Dictionary, new
definitions
This regulation inserts the new definitions for part 8 into
the Dictionary.
Specifies that Part 3 amends the Road Transport (General) Regulations
2000.
This regulation provides that traffic marshals (persons authorised to direct
traffic under Australian Road Rule 304) are exempt from certain requirements
otherwise applied to authorised persons. In particular, the requirements for
traffic marshals to be an Australian citizen and to be issued with (and use) an
identity card are administratively cumbersome and unnecessary, bearing in mind
that traffic marshals are often volunteers authorised for bicycle races and
similar events. The requirement for a traffic marshal to be adequately trained
remains.
Regulation 11 – Regulation 9
This
regulation substitutes Regulation 9 with Regulation 8A and 9.
Regulation 8A, Identifying particulars for authorised people
– Act, s20 (1) (b), specifies that the ‘identifying
particulars’ of an authorised person referred to in Section 20 (1) (b) of
the Road Transport (General) Act 1999, consist of the unique number
allocated to the person by the authority. The authority records a unique number
when a person is authorised under the Road Transport legislation and, if used on
an identity card, the number allows the person to be identified without his/her
name being given out.
This change arises from the need to balance the
occupational health and safety issues associated with disclosing the authorised
person’s full name and the right of the member of the public to be able to
identify the person who has exercised powers under the Road Transport
legislation.
Regulation 9 maintains the requirement in the previous
version of this regulation, that an identity card must show the name and
signature of the person who issued the card.
This regulation inserts a new Part 6, Written-off vehicles
register
Regulation 20, Definitions for pt 6, contains the
definitions relevant to the new Part 6.
Regulation 21, What is a
notifiable vehicle, specifies which written-off vehicles must be notified by
vehicle age, body type and weight.
Regulation 22, When a vehicle is
a statutory write-off, defines a statutory write-off in line with the
nationally agreed definition.
Regulation 23, Who must give
written-off vehicle information to road transport authority, specifies which
people (designated persons) must provide written-off vehicle information to the
authority. These are insurers, wreckers, dealers and persons responsible for a
vehicle.
This regulation also exempts a designated person if the
written-off vehicle information has been:
• provided by another
designated person;
• entered by a designated person in a corresponding
WOVR in another jurisdiction; or
• given by a designated person to a
corresponding road transport authority.
Proposed Regulation 24,
Information about notifiable vehicle to be given to the road transport
authority broadly specifies the information that must be provided to the
authority for each written off vehicle, and when it must be given. The
authority can approve more specific requirements for the information given, such
as nationally agreed codes for damage severity and location, under subregulation
24 (4).
Regulation 25, Defence for failing to report write-offs,
provides a designated person with a defence for failing to notify a written-off
vehicle. The defence is that the designated person believed on reasonable
grounds either that the vehicle was not a notifiable vehicle or that the
designated person was not required to provide the information to the authority.
Regulation 26, Statutory write-offs – duty to attach
notice, concerns marking a statutory write-off to alert potential buyers
that the vehicle can not be registered. The designated person must, within the
compliance period specified, deface the vehicle’s identifier (usually the
compliance plate) and attach a complying statutory write-off notice.
Regulation 27, Unauthorised interference with statutory write-off
notices, prohibits a person from interfering with a statutory write-off
notice attached to a vehicle. A penalty is appropriate given the possible
consequences. For example, a person may purchase a statutory write-off unawares
and later find, after much expense in restoring the vehicle, that the vehicle
can not be registered.
Regulation 28, Written-off vehicles –
duty to deface vehicle identifier, requires the designated person who
assesses a vehicle to be a statutory write-off to deface the vehicle identifier
(usually the compliance plate) in accordance with an approved method (see
Regulation 31 below). The approved method is likely to simply be a chisel mark
across the compliance plate that does not obliterate the identifying numbers.
The chisel mark serves as an extra warning to the consumer of a statutory
write-off and indicates to another designated person that the vehicle has
already been assessed as a statutory write-off.
Regulation 29, Entry
of vehicle information in written-off vehicles register, makes explicit that
the authority may enter information that is provided under proposed regulation
24 on the WOVR. This regulation also allows the authority to enter in the
register a written-off vehicle of its own initiative, although this likely to be
a rare occurrence.
Regulation 30, Statement of whether a vehicle is
written-off, allows a person to apply for a statement of whether a vehicle
is written-off, and specifies the information that must be provided in the
statement. The statement will be useful to the potential buyer of a written-off
vehicle, particularly if the vehicle is going to be repaired and re-registered.
Written-off information is also useful in alerting potential buyers of a vehicle
to the possibility that a vehicle may have been stolen and rebirthed.
Regulation 31, Approvals for pt 6, provides for the following
approvals:
• by the Minister, a corresponding WOVR, to ensure that
insurers are not exempt from notifying the authority if notification has been
given to a WOVR that is not linked to the national database, accessed by all
jurisdiction through the National Exchange of Vehicle and Driver Information
System;
• by the authority, a statutory write-off notice;
and
• by the authority, a method for defacing vehicle identifiers.
This regulation inserts the new definitions for Part 6 into the Dictionary.
This regulation inserts the authority’s decision to record a vehicle in
the written-off vehicle register into the list of reviewable decisions.
Regulation 15 – Schedule 1, part 1.11, new item
7A
This regulation inserts the authority’s decision to refuse to
approve application for registration of a repairable write-off into the list of
reviewable decisions.
This is a consequential amendment.
This is a consequential amendment.
Explains that Schedule 1 amends the Road Transport (Offences) Regulations
2001.
This regulation replaces the previous offence of reproducing the likeness of
a person depicted on a licence, with the offences for:
• unauthorised
reproduction of photograph; and
• unauthorised reproduction of
signature.
These offences correspond to subsections 39 (2) and 39 (3)
(as renumbered from 33F (2) and 33F (3) respectively by Regulation 9 of the Act)
of the Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Act 1999. Subsection 39 (2)
allows the reproduction of the likeness of a person on a driver licence or proof
of age card for specific reasons; subsection 39 (3) allows the reproduction of a
signature given for a driver licence for specific reasons.
This regulation inserts the offences provided for in the proposed amendments
to the Road Transport (General) Regulations 2000,
being:
• designated person not notifying write-off
information;
• designated person not attach statutory write-off notice
;
• designated person not deface vehicle identifier;
• unauthorised removal of statutory write-off notice.
The
infringement penalty for each of these offences is $200.
Part 5
– Amendments of Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Regulations
2000
Specifies that Part 5 amends the Road Transport (Safety and Traffic
Management) Regulations 2000.
This regulation inserts Australian Road Rule Provision 280 (2) (a) and the
corresponding new regulation, 27A, into the table in Note 2. This table sets
out the provisions of the Australian Road Rules that are directly linked to a
regulation in Part 2.2 of the Regulations.
This substitution alters the original Regulation 12. The new regulation
defines the ‘other’ vehicles that may use bus lanes (buses can
already use the lane), and includes a note that links this regulation to the new
Regulation 27A.
Regulation 24 – New regulation
27A
This new regulation makes explicit that the B light rules in the
Australian Road Rules also apply to taxis and motorbikes.
Specifies that this part amends the Road Transport (Vehicle Registration)
Regulations 2000.
Regulation 26 – Regulation 32A
(3) (b)
This regulation substitutes ‘(b) the vehicle complies with
the applicable vehicle standards’ for ‘(b) the vehicle satisfies the
other requirements of these regulations (including the vehicle standards) for
registration of the vehicle’.
Regulation 27 -
Regulation 32A (5)
This regulation substitutes a new Regulation 32A
(5) for the regulation inserted by the Act. This substitution links the
definitions of ‘repairable write-off’ and ‘statutory
write-off’ to new regulations 20 and 22, respectively, in the Road
Transport (General) Regulations 2000. These definitions were included in
the amendments to the Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Regulations
2000 in the Act so that the operation of the WOVR amendments was clear. The
intention was always to have these definitions in the Road Transport
(General) Regulations 2000, however the amendments to these regulations were
not ready prior to Act being passed by the Legislative Assembly.
This regulation omits 32B in the Act which defines when a vehicle is a
statutory write-off, to avoid duplication of the definitions in the Road
Transport (General) Regulations 2000 (see Regulation 20).
This regulation inserts into the dictionary ‘approved corresponding
WOVR’, linking it to the definition found in the Road Transport
(General) Regulations 2000, regulation 30 (1).
This regulation omits the previous definition of ‘corresponding
WOVR’ inserted by the Act.
This consequential amendment follows from replacing ‘corresponding
WOVR’ with ‘approved corresponding WOVR.’