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Aust law will impact vehicle import volumes

Posted on 16 August, 2017

Australia’s Road Vehicle Standards Bill, which could come into effect by 2019, is expected to have a big impact on the volume of cars going from Japan to Australia. The bill introduces reforms to modernise and strengthen the laws governing road vehicles when first supplied to the Australian market. It aims to better protect the community when it comes to vehicle recalls, by mirroring the safety recalls provisions in the Australian Consumer Law. Autohub Acting Chief Executive Officer Frank Willet says "Given what this most recent announcement says, we expect to see a net reduction of used cars going into Australia. We move quite a few second-hand vehicles into Australia and that may drop by about two-thirds.” This includes the importing of second-hand people-movers from Japan under the umbrella of camping vehicles as many of these "camper vans" were never manufactured as camping vehicles and they could be banned from import in 2019. Willet says a number of large second-hand motor vehicle dealers in New Zealand, as well as the used import supply chain, have been looking to expand into Australia should the regulations around importing used vehicles be opened up similar to NZ. However, apart from a softening on the eligibility criteria for special interest and enthusiast second-hand cars, “the Australian government is not interested in opening up the used car market”. The Australian legislation will close the opportunity for people to parallel import new cars from Japan and Britain into Australia because the government has concerns over the "cost and complexity of providing appropriate consumer awareness and protection arrangements". However, the Australian government says the reforms will provide increased consumer choice including by streamlining and improving the existing pathways for importing specialist and enthusiast vehicles. Willett says although the Australian government has “softened” its stance on this market, volume increases are likely to be minimal.