A pathway for vehicles with concessions against the national road vehicle standards
The Concessional RAV Entry Approval is a pathway for entering certain vehicles on the Register of Approved Vehicles that have concessions against the national road vehicle standards, for example the Australian Design Rules, but are otherwise suitable for use on public roads in Australia.
Generally, any person, including an individual or a corporation, may apply for a concessional RAV entry approval. Exceptions to this are under the vehicles to be modified by a registered automotive workshop (RAW) approval holder, other than vehicles subject to second stage manufacture, and the personal effects eligibility criterion, where the applicant must be the individual owner. A corporation could not meet certain requirements relating to living outside and migrating to Australia.
To apply for a concessional RAV entry approval, complete the application through ROVER, upload the required information and pay the appropriate fee.
The Secretary or delegated decision maker needs to be satisfied that the road vehicle meets all the applicable eligibility criteria under section 35 of the Road Vehicle Standards Rules.
This criterion allows an applicant to import or manufacture and enter four trailers with an aggregate trailer mass of 4.5 tonnes or less, and four trailers with an ATM of more than 4.5 tonnes, a year on the RAV, without having to meet the requirements of the type approval pathway, provided that:
Statements regarding:
Supporting information for the ATM, either the specification document prepared by the manufacturer, a photograph of the identification plate showing the ATM, or, if the trailer was manufactured in the USA, a copy of the Certificate of Origin or other justification for the ATM.
A statement of whether you have been granted four or more concessional RAV entry trailer approvals in the same weight category in the past 12 months.
For trailers under 4.5 tonnes ATM, a declaration that the trailer complies with the ADRs, or will comply with the ADRs at the time that it is entered on the RAV.
In the case of a trailer over 4.5 tonnes ATM, in addition to the statement that the vehicle complies or will comply, compliance information must be provided showing that the vehicle complies with the applicable national road vehicle standards.
Compliance information submitted in ROVER will be in the same form and assessed in the same way as type approval applications for heavy trailers. Any testing would need to be conducted by an approved testing facility, or by a person who holds a testing facility approval but did not at the time the testing was conducted.
If an applicant has previously been approved for an identical trailer, the details of that approval will be collected and used to prepopulate the application, and compliance information previously supplied can be used.
If the vehicle needs to be tested when in Australia, a statement must be completed that the compliance information will be obtained and submitted after the vehicle is imported. A condition will be added to the concessional RAV entry approval for the information to be provided before the vehicle is entered on the RAV.
Where a trailer does not or will not comply with the national road vehicle standards, you must provide details of the standards the trailer does not or will not comply with at the time it is added to the RAV. The non-compliance must be either only in minor and inconsequential respects, or the trailer complies to an extent that makes it suitable for use on a public road.
You will also be asked to make the following declarations:
You may need to upload additional information or documents as part of the application process, or when the Department requests further information. When provided, it will be considered when deciding whether to grant, or refuse to grant, a concessional RAV entry approval.
This guidance material explains how to complete an application for a concessional RAV entry approval for a low ATM trailer and provides more details on the information and documentation needed in the application.
The Department will assess the information submitted in the application against the eligibility criteria, as set out in section 35 of the Rules, in addition to other considerations and relevant matters under section 43 of the Rules.
If an application contains incorrect information, or does not comply with a request made by the Department under section 33 of the Rules, the Department may refuse to consider the application.
The assessment focuses on the information, declarations and supporting documents submitted with the application. It is therefore important that an application provides sufficient detail to enable the decision maker to decide whether to grant an approval.
An applicant may receive a notification outlining details about the request for information or inspection and explaining what information needs to be provided and when. The Department will contact the applicant to arrange a suitable time for an inspection.
If a request for further information or inspection is received, the applicant will be given 30 business days, or a longer time as specified in the request, to respond. The time to decide the application is paused until all the requested information is supplied or the inspection is completed. The assessment will resume once the request is completed.
The decision maker may decide to refuse to consider an application if the application does not provide the relevant information, or if requests made by the Secretary or delegate have not been met. If an applicant fails to comply with a request for information or inspection within the time allowed, or fails to provide the relevant information requested, the application may be refused consideration under section 34 of the Rules.
Specifically, the decision maker may refuse to consider an application for a concessional RAV entry approval if:
Applicants may choose to withdraw an application for any reason, and do not need to give a reason for the withdrawal. Sometimes, rather than refusing, or refusing to consider, an application, the assessor will suggest the applicant withdraw, amend and strengthen their application by including additional information or supporting documentation.
It is up to the applicant whether they wish to:
To know how to withdraw, amend, resubmit and delete an application in ROVER, see the Department’s guidance material.
You may request to withdraw an application with a status of Paid, awaiting assessment, or Assessment in progress, in your ROVER portal.
The critical points after which your application cannot be withdrawn are:
When the Department receives notice to withdraw an application that has not already been decided, it will:
When the status of the application is updated to withdrawn, the applicant or authorised user may either:
If an amended application is submitted, the timeframe to decide the application will start again, as it is considered a new application.
Under section 72 of the Road Vehicle Standards Act 2018, the delegated decision-maker may refund the whole or part of an application fee if they are satisfied there are circumstances justifying the refund.
However, section 230(A)(3) of the Rules provides that any fees paid for a withdrawn application are not refundable if the Department had begun considering the application before it was withdrawn. It is therefore not expected that the relevant application fee will be refunded in many cases.
To request a refund, contact the Department using the online enquiry form and explain in detail the circumstances that would justify refund action.
More information about concessional RAV entry approval can be found on the Department’s website. For questions or assistance, see the Department’s contact us page.
