Changes to HVNL chain of responsibility provisions – will you be ready in time?

As outlined in our November transport update, the Queensland Parliament (as the host jurisdiction) has now passed major changes to the chain of responsibility provisions in the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL). Those changes will be automatically rolled out in all Australian states and territories (except Western Australia and the Northern Territory) and are likely to come into force in mid-2018.

The changes will:

• Impose a new 'primary duty' on all parties in the chain of responsibility to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of their road transport activities. The current chain of responsibility provisions deem parties in the chain to be responsible for a series of on-road offences such as breaches of vehicle's mass, dimension and loading requirements and breach by drivers of speed and fatigue requirements. The new provisions go further – it will no longer be necessary for a road offence to be committed before a party in the chain is liable