Get in your CTAs and plan for your VTAs

With the Road Vehicle Standards Act (RVSA) going live next week, HVIA’s Greg Forbes urges members to ensure they submit draft Component Type Approval (CTA) applications before 5pm AEST, Friday 26 June.

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The Department of Infrastructure will be taking the ROVER system offline for an update and to complete testing before going live. The system will be back online Thursday, 1 July when the RVSA takes effect.

Any member with a draft CTA in the system and does not submit it before 5pm Friday, will lose their application when the system is changed over the newer version of ROVER.

Once ROVER goes live, manufacturers will need to think about how and when to convert their existing Identity Plate Approvals (IPAs) to Vehicle Type Approvals (VTAs).

There are two ways to do this:

• via the opt-in process or
• by submitting a new VTA from scratch.

Which option is best will depend on the manufacturer and their particular product line.

Manufacturers also need to think about when is the right time to either opt-in or apply for a new VTA.

Opt-ins will only be available up until 31 December 2021. In practice members will probably need to put their opt in applications by mid-October to be confident they will be processed in time.

Members also need to think about what date they wish to nominate for the opt in to take effect.

Once you opt in you need to submit vehicle information to the RAV so you need to have suitable processes in place.

Any variations to the vehicle will need to be processed through the RVSA system and any changes will need to be supported by CTAs.

Manufacturers who have not opted in will still be able to produce vehicles under their existing IPAs and manage variations using the processes under the existing Motor Vehicle Standards Act out until 30 June 2022.

However, if they do not opt in by 31 December 2021 they will need a VTA in place by 1 July 2021 to continue producing these vehicles.

Applying for a new VTA will require you to be confident that all of your suppliers have CTAs or ECE numbers available for all the components you use that need to be ADR compliant.

HVIA is pressing the Department to update documentation around CTAs and VTAs to reflect the latest advice we have received.

It is also imperative that the Department offers an adequately resourced help-line to deal with problems when ROVER goes online.

This is the biggest change to the management of new vehicle approvals in a generation and it is crucial that it goes smoothly – our members livelihoods depend on it.