Compliance to cost millions

A lead organisation in Australia’s car industry has questioned the administrative burden of federal legislation that intends to establish a mandatory scheme for the sharing of motor-vehicle service and repair information.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) says the new regulations when passed by parliament will require repairers to demonstrate they are eligible to access the information to each marque individually.

Chief executive Tony Weber, pictured, says: “Instead of supporting the service and repair industry to provide outstanding service, the legislation creates onerous administrative compliance checks at an annual estimated compliance cost of around AU$30 million (NZ$32,7m).

“This is a red-tape nightmare for everyone concerned. Repairers will have to make up to 60 separate annual applications to car companies and other data providers. 

“A simple change to the legislation could have made the process one application to prove eligibility to access information for all car brands.

“Overnight, every car company in Australia will become a separate de-facto ‘regulator’. I cannot see why repairers would see it as a good use of their resources to prove to each car company separately that they are eligible to receive information. 

“A much better cost-effective solution is to establish a single step to assess eligibility.”

The legislation as drafted places the responsibility on each car company to check a range of information including proof that the repairer is seeking to carry on a service and repair business. In some cases, this process may include police checks.

“If these checks are not performed to a standard that’s not fully defined yet, car companies can face significant fines under the Competition and Consumer Act,” adds Weber.

“The legislation in its current form is inefficient, cumbersome, expensive and onerous for all parties.”